


Destiny in the Domain

by Experiment282



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AI/human romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Antagonism, Artificial Intelligence, Competitive Tension, Connie is a Hacker, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Ethical Dilemmas, F/M, Flirting, Hacker AU, Hacking, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Philosophy, Steven is an AI, Tension, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 168,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25803139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Experiment282/pseuds/Experiment282
Summary: 2099, new year, new city, new opportunities.Connie; also known as the infamous hacker Berrybyte, moves to Mega Beach City, a dystopian, futuristic metropolis by the ocean on the hunt for the biggest score.However, she comes across a network of AIs that are out to protect it at all costs, due to a big secret it holds and becomes rather interested in one specific AI.Hijinks ensueConnverse Hacker AU
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 39
Kudos: 66





	1. Log in

**Author's Note:**

> Idea rolling around in my head for what ever reason. I want to get the ball rolling.  
> This takes inspiration from many sources, namely Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiments Lain, Halo, Matrix etc.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie moves to Mega Beach City and gets her first job.

_"Good Morning Berrybyte"_

Twenty five year old Hacker Connie Maheswaran just wanted something new, looking at her silver watch with the blue background as it messaged her a good morning at 6 am, while she was in the middle of unpacking, having been travelling all night with her gear to her newest home.

She's been to many cities throughout her life, after money, after fame...there was risk and reward in her line of her work, her moniker of Berrybyte well known, selling her skills to the highest bidder. There had been many close calls, to where Connie maintained her stance to be one step ahead of everyone else. She was afforded her arrogance and claim to be the best in the business...but had to keep herself in the dark to keep it that way. So her next big adventure landed her in the last known lands of paradise, which had the original name of Mega Beach City.

One of the last known sea side locations in existence, it was surprisingly humble for a city. Cleaner than most of the cesspools she had gone too, but still, like most places, it had been definitely called another hub of crimes, inequality and brutality. It was just the order of the day in the the lawlessness, ever since they had given rise to technology taking over peoples jobs. It was inevitable.

Climate change was too late to change, instead artificial weather had to be induced to produce rain but...more often that not, it would cause more problems than it would solve. Once upon a time, Connie would have cared about the state of the world, but growing up with strict parents and peers that were cruel, lead Connie down a darker path in life.

Years on, she's able to fight for herself and her slim figure and general beauty had people underestimate her at times and she's turned the table more times than she could count, on the moments where people thought they would have the upper hand. She had to keep herself on edge, in case the situation changed. Kept herself up to date, aware and focused. It did little to lessen the impacts of how much fun her job could be. Because these people. these horrible people deserved what was coming to them.

Apartment EE-233 in the Barriga Building. She had set up her station, her accounts and got herself comfortable. It was a rainy day when she arrived and Connie didn't mind the rain. She had to make sure she had her big raincoat with her, obscuring her face when ever she could. This day and age required retinal scans or finger prints for nearly every destination, but Connie was clever enough that she had a distributor of fine contacts that allowed for for inconspicuous infiltration. Most of the time she wore thick black glasses that allowed her to dive into the Virtual Space and utilising augmented reality for most of the tasks she had to do outside of her work station, where she had to work outdoors.

She loved her big black boots that she couldn't be bothered tying up. Something about her mother being particular with how shoes were meant to be and out of petty rebellion Connie kept them undone. Not that it mattered or that they were even long enough for her to trip over. She also had them usually one size too big; enjoying the stomps she made like she was stamping her authority everywhere she went.

Tight black leather pants on most days, white belt with a pink belt buckle but otherwise at home she wore loose blue shorts and white knee high socks...but nearly every day she wore a tight sleeveless cyan shirt, long black fingerless gloves that stretched beyond her elbows with her watch on her left wrist. A silver necklace with silver strawberry pendant...a gift from her late grandmother. One of the few decent people in Connie's existence. She wore heavy pink eyeshadow and mascara, with the hint of red glitter on the bottom of the top eyelids. Common day fashion was to have fake jewels stuck on the outer sides of the eyes as they travelled the pathways of the wings from the streak of eyeliner, that usually surrounded the whole eye. Connie had two small pink gems, the inner ones larger than the outer ones on her face. Most people would have red, blue or black lipstick. Connie opted for black, sometimes blue depending on her mood.

Her thick, long black hair was usually down while she worked at her computer. Or, computers....but when ever she went out she normally had a high ponytail or if the weather was bad she kept it low and hidden within her bulky raincoat. 

Speaking of her station, she had set everything up in her bed room...six monitors and three keyboards hooked up and two towers underneath the white desk; and a third as back up. She had a laptop in case she had to go mobile. Her blocky, black head set with the green microphone that stuck out like a sore thumb sat in its cradle, as Connie booted everything up. Screens of magenta and blue gradients dotted with floating strawberries made up her background. The bottom screen held all her apps and programs, popping each of them up as she logged into her special network, ran through daily checks, letting her private contacts know she had everything ready to go when ever they needed her. Nothing yet, but she would give it a few hours until her first job in the big City would be forwarded on to her.

So she set up shop, opening up her delivered furniture and put everything into place. The apartment itself was rather small and quaint...four rooms. The lounge room was the first room you'd see; smooth black cubic couch on the right with the matching coffee table and giant flat screen TV on the left. Directly in front towards the back were the white curtains that covered the windows and sliding door that went out to the balcony, over seeing the crux of the city. Connie was on the 27th Floor and overlooked most of the city, As Connie opened the blinds, she could see the rain heavy against the backdrop, obscuring most of the sky line in a dense, blue fog with only the lights of the tops of towers and other buildings blinking through, as well as the intersecting flying cars. Though in the distance, she could make out a strange stone structure towards the beach side. She heard of a preserved landmark where ruins weren't exactly taken care of and demolished for high density housing.

Beyond the lounge room and to the right of the windows was the kitchen. Pretty high tech and silver mostly. Connie spent a great deal of hard earned cash on this apartment and wouldn't settle for any of the grotty ghetto ones. Looking into the fridge, she realised she hadn't bought food yet and made plans to go the nearest convenience store to stock up. South of the kitchen was a hallway that lead to her bedroom and en-suite that one could enter from either her room or the hallway. The bathroom was decent enough...bright white tales with a thin pink string around the top part of the walls. To her right was the sink and mirror, in front of her was a nice long bath for her sooth her troubles after a hard day and next to that was the shower.

Her bedroom sans her work station was a big double bed with white sheets and two black bed side tables that were on the right hand side as you entered from the end of the hallway. She had a habit of sleeping on the right hand side of the bed and the right set of drawers had a finger print scanner; hiding one of her many pistols. She would have to do a bit of renovating in order to make sure this place had security to her own design. A few days work but nothing too complex...as least, as far as Connie could manage it never was...a series of networked and interlinked codes and deposits with special wiring. Easy to fix up.

Going back to her room, the door to the bathroom was on her right and the whole room stretched towards the windows on the same side and connected with the balcony. Connie imagined smoking many a cigarette and not giving a shit as she flicked the butts away. On nights where her mother would call, she would always ask, without fail, if Connie had stopped smoking. Of course, Connie would say she would plan to stop, but she honestly didn't...she would only claim to so her mother would shut up about it. 

Overall, when Connie was satisfied with most things being set up, she pulled her back, grabbed her raincoat and her essentials, her gun and including her rectangular shift phone, red and grey in colour, making sure she had no messages before she left and made her way to the shops.

* * *

It was around 5:55 pm as Connie walked the dilapidated slums of Mega Beach City. The ground level was filled with the less than fortunate, but honestly, Connie felt more comfortable here than with the fat cats of the Upper Crusts; the Canopy Dwellers that would laugh on the poor Ground Walkers. These people were usually a mixture of kind and nasty and pickpockets were everywhere. Connie kept everything close and in places where pickpockets wouldn't have been able to touch. If they tried to, Connie would not hesitate to pull out her pistol.

But it was like every other city in comparison...hookers, drug dealers and the occasional hum drum of street markets. Connie had dealt with these people before and in all honestly, due to the fact that the Canopy Dwellers cared so little, they often weren't noticed and were generally able to work under the radar. These people, Connie saw as resources and contacts for her line of work. If she could figure out who she could find allies with, then it would normally make her daily life a lot easier. Rumours were cheap, but information was valuable and any one worth their weight would be given a sum of credits for their time and labour....and Connie knew, there was a lot of eager people, looking to get their hands dirty at any cost.

The air was humid, vapours pouring out of ground vents and it smelled like a combination of tobacco and goodness knows what the favourite flavour of the month would be, giving how the wafting scent of fruit crossed her nose. She was going to like it here, she could tell. Anything else would be the fruits and vegetables sold out of ramshackle stalls by kind old ladies and men, spruiking for others to buy their fine foods. Most of it was artificially grown, but cheap as a result. These people made do with the best they had and more often than not had huge families to feed, not to mention that paying rent alone, cost an arm and a leg.

Connie would feel guilty for their condition, but her mentor that brought her into the business as it was today, said that Connie couldn't afford to give away too much. Sympathy could be seen as a weakness, but she overall, would prefer to protect these people, with their broken, rotten teeth in their everyday smiles. Guilt were pour into her on the moment, but otherwise she had to dedicate herself to a cause she had spent way too much time and money on her own to give up and let go of now. Not while there were scores to be had.

She bought a few things, paid with cash in hand that vendors were always happy to see and headed into the store mainly to get the addictive Sugar Shock Shutdown, just so she could function for long hours into the night. Her sleeping pattern in general was not ideal, but the job she took could take weeks, if not months, to get what her clients wanted. She wasn't the best in the business without a good reason. Without dedication and her stubbornness, she wouldn't have gotten as far she did.

"I've never seen you here before." Said the male Cashier as they put the cash into the register.

Connie grinned.

"I've just arrived." She said.

They nodded.

"Ah here for work? Well, just be careful not to venture to the ruins on the other side of the city."

Oh where he put it like that, Connie was dying to find out what lied there.

"What is it? Haunted?" She queried.

He shook his head.

"The Mayor has put a hefty fine for anyone who dares venture there. If you want to keep your head, you would best steer clear."

Connie rolled her eyes. Probably some treasure they don't people to see. It was normally the case, but it gave Connie a definite interest in figuring it out. 

"Eh...I can handle myself thanks."

* * *

Going back to her apartment, she put everything away, preparing a cup of ramen and getting her chopsticks and opening up a fresh can of energy drink and put in a silly curly straw with a strawberry that dangled off of it, slamming them onto the desk as she went to work, changing out of her outlier gear and into something more comfortable. Checking her phone, as expected, she had multiple messages. Sitting down, she crossed her legs and dragged her chair forward, then put on her headset and cracked her fingers, going into work mode.

The Diamond Domain, or just, the Domain, was an amazing place to be in. Technology had advanced to a point where humans could project themselves as Avatars inside the cyber network. Connie started off out the outside, however, before going in as the Domain was a huge, vast space that she preferred to use a simple User Icon that she could use and would use text base. This way protected people the most as sending your mind into the system without boundaries was dangerous. Most people could only afford Computer Systems that would only allowed them access via normal methods and those with the most cutting edge tech (or those with the know how to do it themselves) would risk their lives to do all sorts of things in the Domain. Setting boundaries to protect the Avatar was because people could die in the Domain, even with emergency ejection measures in place. People have heart attacks or worse, go brain dead in real life if they find their Avatars compromised.

People like Connie and many others, spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to get surgery to insert a slot in the back of their necks that allow them to transfer their consciousness into the Domain called a Domain Port. For Connie, her mentor paid for the expenses to have hers 'installed'. Many have gone to seedy places to get theirs 'installed' and some just end up short circuiting entirely due to the short cuts taken with the surgery. Either than or infections from dodgy surgeons.

Her normal list of contacts appeared as Connie had gotten herself in the zone and showing her a list of clientele, their jobs and their prices. Most of them Connie ignored for either because they weren't paying enough for what they wanted or that they were too easy or two boring. If Connie was in need for some quick cash, however, she would generally pick up the smaller tasks. Not necessarily challenging but what ever suited her needs at the time where she wasn't in a picky mood.

As usual, she set up a sub-routine where the program would pick out notable requests that would catch her eye, an advanced search through the hundreds of requests she would receive daily. Even from other cities, countries, would always want the skills of Berrybyte. The least interesting would remain in white text, the borderline ones from older clients that she's helped in the past or a decent price offered would be highlighted in green, the text normally larger. It was all the same, until one scroll lead to a huge text in red, labled DESPERATE HELP NEEDED - 200,000 CREDIT REWARD. Oh that definitely got her interest. The client itself was under the username LordWash was amusing...so she did some research into this particular individual and found that he was actually a man who didn't have a great income...so how in the world would he be able to afford Connie's services?

Still, she was intrigued to see what this man wanted so badly. So she clicked on the link, which in turn, opened up another window which she had dragged to another monitor. The Chat system was generally encrypted to begin with, with the User Icon, Connie's with a Strawberry with a sword stuck through it and LordWash was simply a hose with a crown on top of it. A symbol of the mans work. This was a secure channel and before Connie did anything had another sub-routine do a background check on the guys IP, checking for any 'bugs' in the system. A ding indicated it was clean, so she was ready to engage.

"I saw your ad." Connie typed.

"Oh thank goodness, I didn't know where else to turn." He said.

A phrase Connie sees a lot. Hackers were generally requested when most general...moral avenues have already been exhausted.

"Okay, explain to the job to me."

Connie poured through the paragraphs. Saying that he something important stolen from him and hoped Berrybyte would find it for him. The object itself is stuck in the Diamond Domain and while he's tried to traverse it, he'd already spent a lot of money to get a better quality Domain Port installed and had attempted to find this missing object within the Domain himself, but had no luck. Connie asked for the description of the item in question.

It was mainly a data package that he treasured from his late wife, but for some odd reason hackers had stolen from it. He says that his wife passed away in making it and it was said to be a program worth looking into, something she developed to help improve the structure and livelihoods of people. Stolen programs were worth a lot to people, normally because that creating something for the Domain is generally special scripting that assists Avatars more than User Icons, but if in this case, she appeared to have the know how to develop apps for Avatars which was invaluable irregardless. Berrybyte understood and requested the potential file name and a list of suspects and to forward on the details to her enquiries email.

"Thank you so much, now when do you need me to wire in the money, do you need it now or later?"

A normal question for those whom never had the money to provide. The scenario was more common than not and LordWash's story for all intents and purposes could have been another hacker just looking to for another to scapegoat in terms of their own misdeeds. No. Connie had a method.

"I'll take 100,000 Credit now and you can pay me the other half when I'm done. Is that okay?" She questioned.

She half expected him to say no.

"Okay, done...I sincerely hope you find it." He replied.

* * *

Definitely interesting info. And the money took no less than half an hour to come through. He proved to be a trustworthy client so far. So once Connie had received more information, she did the first stage of her research with her User Icon. Her client stated that the package was stolen by a group known as the Crystal Ancillas. She'd never heard of them before, but that just made researching it all the more fascinating. She'd spoken to contacts about this particular group and some of them mentioned that they're nefarious and definitely well known within Mega Beach City. They're exceptionally tricky to capture and trick and their skills were said to be legendary. How many there were? some said three or four...but no one knew about their Avatars or User Icons so they were very difficult to spot, even within the Domain.

So Connie began the Second Phase, as she took a cable and stuck it into her domain port. The ride into the Domain itself was one of discomfort at first, sending volts of electricity one down ones spine, eyes riding shut as the Domain took hold of ones entire being.

Upon opening them, she was met with bridges of colour and pure light, text and binary flying everywhere at first. Skies of blended magenta and blue and programs running all over the place.

The Domain was filled with Avatars and artificial intelligence that kept the Domain running. Connie's chosen form was a tight black body suit that fitted her form nicely, with her make up more akin to the cybernetic side of things. The black body suit reached beyond her elbows and knees, wearing black shoes, the suit's detail mostly tiny hexagonal patterns upon closer glances, and lines that twisted around the legs and arms, glowing blue. She summoned a thick protective black jacket...nothing too out of the norm like her rain coat...she just like less noticeable in the simple garb.

Her glasses had changed into a round holographic bar that went around her eyes that came from the ears of her head set and she checked her hands to see her normal white and black gloves. The left glove allowed her to show a project of a map and location. As a precaution, Hackers generally use a special log in system that won't alert people to their location, so they would spawn inside in a random location within the grid. Every major city had its own grid with the Domain and Mega Beach City was no different.

It was its own hub...a combination of seedy and Avatars' designs constantly compensating and not at all would look like their original forms. Connie pulled on a black mask over her mouth and any time she talked, it would create audio lines for when ever she spoke. It also allowed her to mimic other voices than her own, altering the pitch at her a leisure.

Walking the Domain was generally like a walk in the park. Some monuments here tried to project real life objects like trees. It just looked wrong to force real in the Domain but people preferred a touch of what a bit a green was lost years ago. Not exactly immersive but if it did its job then it didn't matter, even if it had no actual function besides a general aesthetic.

People would look at her. Of course they would. A new person in Mega Beach City Domain Grid. She was but a stranger. She had spoken to contacts within Mega Beach City in the past and actually it was thanks to them that she had come here in the first place...so she took the route that took her to that said contact.

Because what people didn't know about the Domain was that the intelligences that ran it weren't said to be of Earth origin. It was all rumor and conjecture but the possibility of finding alien tech was something Connie desired to discover and get her hands on. Alien tech was worth a fortune and Connie would be set for life.

Her contact was a woman she knew as Pat-Risha. Original but she had been living in Mega Beach City for many years now. It was she who had the most information about these Crystal Ancillas. They met at a Cyber Cafe, exchanging pleasantries. Pat was normally religious but the darker side had her question her faith. Especially when there was Alien Tech to be found. She wore a pink Hijab of interesting design and had a preference for peaches and peach like designs.

"So what can you tell me about the Crystal Ancillas?" Connie asked.

The Cyber Cafe itself was generally a relatively busy place filled with Avatars and the like, chatting away with busy deals and so forth. It tried to look homely enough with tall wooden benches and plants everywhere and even Coffee that was programmed so well you'd swear you'd be tasting the real thing and even smelling it was like actual caffeine going up your nose and tingling the scents. Connie already had her drink in the real world so she didn't order anything.

"They're well known around here." She said.

"Interestingly enough, the only real thing I can tell you is that their compensation for most of their tasks don't really require credit, but mostly favours."

Favours? They must be well off then...Connie hungered for more.

"How does one get in contact with them?" She wanted to know.

Pat snorted.

"You don't find the Ancillas. They find you."

Now that just confused Connie greatly.

"They...surely they must have an email or a place within the Grid that's really well hidden with the best types of encryption..." She said.

Pat shrugged as she stirred her coffee with a Popsicle stick

"As far as I am aware, one of their representatives will pop up all of a sudden, request the name of the client and do the work. Exchanges are short and sweet, straight the point."

And all they get out of this is...favours...hmm...

"They kind of remind me of you...nitpicking the lists to find the best and most rewarding work."

Connie sighed. No. She did not need a rival in this day and age. She was the best. She was not going to be compared to spooks.

"The job I've got is to find a special data package that they stole from my client. Why in the world would they steal data packages from deceased spouses?"

Pat frowned.

"That's the first time I've heard them doing that." She said.

"But I did hear rumours of a Package making its way around the Grid that is well sort after. What that package is...not well described. Suffice to say no one knows what it looks like...other than they've seen what the package can do."

That's the best Connie could hope for.

"Okay then...so...what does it do?" She queried.

Pat leaned her head in.

"Oddly enough..." She whispered.

"It's a new type of Firewall, said to be impenetrable."

A...a firewall? What she was hunting down was a Firewall? The file name LordWash gave her spoke about WallofROSE but that was the name of deceased in question.

"I've cracked through thousands of fire walls over the years. Not a single one has survived." Connie proclaimed with confidence.

"I wonder what makes this one so special."

Pat pulled a small white chip out of her pocket and handed it to Connie.

"I got this from a mutual. A recording from an encounter. I think you need to see this."

Connie took the chip and inserted it into her hand. From the small crystal in her palm projected a scene. Shaky camera work, but it looked they were running from someone. She could hear panting and alleyway in the streets...of the real world?

"What...what the hell is that?" A males voice cried.

All of a sudden a pink light burst in the alley way, followed by a wall of hexagonal hard light projected before the individual...before the recording cut to static. Putting her hand away, she looked at Pat with confusion.

"A Firewall projected in real life?" Connie asked, skeptical.

Pat took a sip of her coffee.

"This was taken years ago mind you. The recording is rather old but its been shared with many Agents. No one bothered to look into it, thinking it was fake. However, many others have begun to see similar designs within the Domain the last few years and I'm beginning to believe that they're linked with this stolen package."

In what way? Connie wasn't sure about this.

"The Crystal Ancillas have been around a lot longer and they've pulled off the strange and impossible before. Most people say they're linked but ultimately....it has to be Alien Tech."

Connie's eyes widened. Though, it would make sense. She hadn't known them a great deal but legendary exploits of the impossible have been told before and most concluded it was experimental Alien Tech in action. This being one of them did not surprise Connie in the slightest, though she did wonder...how LordWash's Wife came across it herself? If the theory was true...she could see how people would make those connections. But no one had dared to try to scope into much deeper, perhaps out of fear the Ancillas would wreak havok like no other.

"Is there anywhere in this Grid that people deem off limits?" Connie questioned.

Pat chuckled.

"If you want your Soulware to be ripped from your flesh then by all means, I recommend the Obsidian Ruins on the other side of town." 

Obsidian Ruins...were they?

"Okay I will." She said.

Pat then drank...then spat her drink.

"You're serious..."

Conne sat back and crossed her arms and legs, smirking with her eyebrows and acting all cocky.

"I am Berrybyte. I am the Sword of cutting down impossibilities. How could this be any difficult for my normal line of work?"

Pat looked around, wary.

"Enough to spout your infamy across the cafe? Well, I didn't sign your death warrant. But if you do die, I call digs on your apartment."

* * *

Despite Pat's lack of confidence, Connie travelled across the Mega Beach City Domain Grid to the Obisidian Ruins. She ignored all the signs and made sure to obscure herself as she got closer, seeing the statue in all its glory. It indeed looked ancient, but a fence barred Connie's path and an invisible barrier.

Looking back, it did look like it was far from the main parts most people visited. This place was mostly barren and empty, scarce of any individuals. She could already see scanning cameras high above. Connie had switched on her Incognito Mode; a necessity in any Hackers arsenal so she couldn't be detected; practically invisible to nearly anything. The mode uses constantly changing codes within her form, moulding her into the environments of the Domain so she's nothing more than the ground itself or a maybe some kind of feature. Either way, she was prepare, so she sat down by a node; small white squares not noticeable to the naked eye. These nodes were usually everywhere and with the right tools, could be hacked into quite easily. They were pillars that held up the formats and data for a part of the Domain and were linked to multiple nodes to keep the visualisation and the data flowing around it.

Sitting down with her legs cross, Connie took out her left hand and projected a laptop into her lap, taking a wire and inserting into the node and took a look at the surrounding areas of the temple. She could hack into the cameras and even gain a glimpse of the interior of the temple itself through other node connections. Switching from node to node like she was jumping from platform to platform, eventually it got her closer to the interior of the Temple. This wasn't difficult at all...and had been a cake walk so far.

However, once she had gotten into the entrance itself, it had suddenly gone pink, with the words, ' _Access Denied_ ' written in the centre. Connie squinted, annoyed but otherwise non-plussed, running more programs to figure out how to take this down.

She tried everything...everything she knew about breaking through walls with multiple programs of varying levels of efficiency and use. Even her famous; Sword of Berrybyte program, normally used as a calling card to take people down with the purpose of nudging their ego, didn't work. This...what was this level of technology?

"What ya doin there bud?" Said a voice.

Looking up, she could see a purple owl sitting on top of the fence. Connie was dumbfounded, looking around.

"Wait....you can see me?" Connie said with surprise.

The Owl spread her wings and laughed.

"Well, yeah...kinda hard not to..." She replied.

Connie swallowed, checking everything was working as it should, making sure nothing of import had been shut down.

"Relax your dacks human." She said.

Human?

"What...what are you?" Connie question, standing up and standing her ground.

"Lil' ol me?" The owl said, aghast.

"Nah you don't need to worry about me...but you do need to worry about...them..."

Connie looked behind them, seeing two individuals as they exited the Temple, but their forms were glitching like crazy so it was hard to even get a good description when they were basically a mess of pixels in generic forms. Connie's heart started to race, looking back the Owl, she was basically laughing like mad, even as Connie summoned her digital pistol....it was suddenly destroyed a few seconds later, with no explanation.

"Come _ooon_ I'm glad someone is trying these days. I'm a bit more forgiving...but they might not be...so uhh...you might want to start running dude."

The forms got closer, as Connie heard a high tinny noise that basically hurt her ears. She shook her head as she fell into a sprint and headed back to the main part of the Grid.

She had to find a place to hide until she could get to a Exit Gate. One can't exactly yank themselves out of the Domain when they felt like it. The Grid was usually filled with Exit Gates but normally they had lines of people getting out so Connie had to find one and fast. Looking behind her, she gasped at how the figures were still chasing her, so she tried to amplify her running speed by altering her physics codes. Most of the time the Domain didn't like it when you altered part of it to suit ones needs, spending more resources or cheating for example. Connie couldn't care, she just had to get out of here and fast.

The Streets of the Grid here were foreign so she didn't know them as well as she'd liked, so she had to find somewhere to hide for a moment, until she could figure out where the closest Exit Gate was. She found an alleyway and went behind the back of a building. She looked back onto the main street, seeing the figures run right past her. For the purposes of making the experience of the Domain as authentic to reality as one could make it, Connie started breathing heavily, the artificial adrenaline pumping through her. She swallowed and sighed with relief. She projected the maps. Exit Gates were marked in Red and the closest one was several blocks away. She had to psyche herself up again, pulling herself off the wall, until she nonchalantly went back into the main street, changing her jacket from black to navy...as if to hopefully remain anonymous.

Looking around, she shut off the Incognito Mode for the moment and tried to mingle herself in with the collective group of Avatars. Some Avatars had the ability to walk alongside User Icons that they were partnered with, so most of them would have a User Icon beside their heads like some kind of over the shoulder camera.

Hands in her pockets, Connie hastened her walking to go to the Gate, her eyes looking everywhere for the shadowy pixel figures, seeing if they were anywhere near her.

"Hey you."

Connie ignored the voice as she walked faster.

"Ma'am wait, you dropped something!"

She's heard that before.

"Hey lady!"

She felt the pull as she went to berate at the individual, instead she was looking at an Avatar of a tall man with black poofy hair. He wore a black jacket with glowing pink lines on top of a pink polo shirt with a popped collar and black pants with red sandals. His eyes glistened with pink pupils and the bejewelled design besides the eyes were seen on the top of his eyebrow. There was something...weird about his smile as he looked at her, those round spheres that looked at differently than anyone else would have.

"Sorry to interrupt but I saw you drop this."

Connie looked down at his hand as he handed her a white chip, similar to the one Pat gave her. 

"I don't remember dropping anything." She said.

He looked behind Connie, seeing two pixel glitched figures storming in their direction, before he pulled Connie into a nearby alleyway, hiding behind a stall as they walked past. He covered her mouth as he peered around the corner and waited for them to disappear. Screams muffled, Connie tried to fight back against this stranger who had the gall to touch her. She threw his hand off her and gave him the mother of all glares.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? How dare you!" She cried out.

The man lifted his chin as he looked at her.

"You were about to be killed dumbass." He told her.

His demeanour changed quickly, from sweet to sour in an instant.

"You're not the first one who's tried to get into the Temple. Trust me...you do not want their wrath...."

Connie furrowed her brows as she adjusted herself.

"I have a damn job to do. I do as I please." She claimed.

And then from sour, came a cheeky, lull eyed grin, a scene she's seen with many men whom had tried to flirt with her in the past...but this seemed more malicious and mind-boggling.

"Ahhh so you're Berrybyte...heard you were coming here." He said.

What? How did he know that? She's never seen this man in her life. Never more had she felt so...angry and grated over this.

"Who I am is none of your fucking business." She roared.

"I don't give a shit if you're trying to save me. I am going do get what I came for-"

"Well, Straw-Berry, let me be the biscuit to your jam." He called out, having the gall for interrupting Connie.

"I just gave you what you fucking need...stop being an ungrateful bitch."

What?

He groaned as he took Connie's hand, who blasted him for touching her again.

"Come on, let's get you to an Exit Gate. Be a good girl and come with me."

She tried to resist, pulling out her hand from his. The amount of sheer hatred she had for this man was immense and powerful and painful.

"Excuse me, I don't even know you." She said.

"You pull me off the street, claim you have what I'm looking for and think you can control me....I don't think so bub."

The man chuckled.

"Screech all you like Berry, but the Ancillas don't take kindly to people knocking on their door. No matter how skilled you think you are they can tear apart people in heartbeat. They're GIS."

GIS?

"What the hell is a GIS?" Connie questioned.

The man groaned again.

"Fuckin' hell, you'd think with your smarts you would have known this already...but because I'm kind, I can tell you." He said.

"They're Gem Intelligence Systems. They're powerful pieces of Alien Tech that can shred through any kind of human made defence or software. You do not want to mess around them if you want to live." 

No kidding. But Alien Tech? Why did no one mention this to her before and why had this not been said by any of her contacts? He had to be pulling her leg, like some kind of Con man.

"Okay then Biscuit Boy, say I believe you." Connie questioned.

"Why the fuck would they steal software from an old man's dead wife?"

The man looked down, suddenly unresponsive, closing his eyes briefly. Again from Sweet, to sour, to spicy, to sour again.

"They didn't." He said. his voice calm.

"Listen Berry...I would tell you loads of history if I can. But the Ancillas won't stop hunting for you unless you log out of the Domain. We need to get you out. Take this to your client. Trust me...he'll take this and pay you every bit of credit."

This made no sense...and Connie wanted to remain in the Domain a while longer. Surely there was a way to stop the Ancillas, even if they are Alien Tech. It was obvious that they were a threat here and Connie had to find out a way to take them down. this...guy seemed to know more than anyone and while he was a pain in the ass, she needed to pry out more info on the topic...the hunger for such knowledge, ever present.

"I have no reason to trust you." Connie said, before she growled and punched the nearby wall.

"But I also do not want to die. Escort me Biscuit Boy and if I die, my spectre is gonna fucking destroy you."

The man grin.  
"Duly noted, Berry-Girl." He said, lending her his hand.

"Let's go, they're still around."

She didn't even want to touch him, brushing past him with her shoulder as she went out into the street. The man took a deep breath, exasperated by this tenacious being as he walked alongside her.

He kept an eye out for the figures as they walked towards the nearest Exit Gate. As Connie predicted, there was a long wait for people to disconnect. The booth itself takes a good thirty seconds per person to safely eject them, so the two waited in line until it was Connie's turn. She was, subconsciously curious about this man though...who was he really and how did he get the Package before she did? She wanted so badly to smack him one, since it was her duty to retrieve the files and not him. If she had more time...she could have hacked into the Temple.

But he stood there, silent and patient, his eyes on the eternal look out. How much did he know, really? Connie wanted to pry...and pry she did.

"What's your name?" She asked.

He looked at her strangely, like she had asked him a stupid question.

"Biscuit Boy apparently." He joked.

She rolled her eyes.

"I know what you mean. It's Steven."

Steven huh? So generic and ordinary. She expected some kind of user name with a series of Xs in it. But just Steven? Connie looked away, her face red either with embarrassment or with anger, her arms across as she began to shake.

"What's yours?"

REALLY? He went all the way to know her callsign but didn't bother to find out her real name? What kind of guy was he?

"You should know, Steven." She mocked.

By the grin on his face, he was really enjoying this.

"Come on entice me Berry-Girl. Or would you really prefer me to call you that? Or I can come up with an entirely different nickname."

No thank you.

"Just call me Connie, jerk."

Steven grinned.

"Okay, Connie Jerk. Wow...that's new."

She wanted to slap him again, but it would be a waste of energy in doing so.

"Why do I bother?" She questioned.

"I''m never gonna see your dumb face again..."

Steven doubted it. Mega Beach City was big, but not that big.

"You will...I'll guarantee it." He told her.

Oh yay.

"Ah yes, to see your ugly mug again, I look forward to it." Connie said sarcastically. 

* * *

Once she was back in the Real World, she checked the time on her watch. It was almost twelve thirty am. It was dark, save for the hum of her computers fans. She took everything off, her headset, her port cord and her glasses and stretched her entire body from head to toe, listening in to the cracks of her bones before she sat normally, staring at one of the empty monitors, losing her mind briefly as she mused over what just happened. Digging her fingers into the back of her scalp her head fell, Connie was frustrating and ultimately disappointed in her performance. If LordWash accepted Steven's gift and Connie was paid, it wouldn't be enough to pay off the loss if dignity over it all, shaking with rage as she cowered and curled herself up on the chair.

Dumb, just dumb. Connie should have been better. She was better than these, Alien Tech Ancillas. They were cheating and they were everything wrong with the Domain. She will take them down and she will prove to be the best...

She got up and collapsed on her bed, face first into the pillow as she screamed. The mental images of Steven's stupid face annoyed her more so and tried to let sleep have her forget her worries for a few hours.

That was until her alarm went off at 6 AM. Connie didn't even set it..so she looked at the watch on her wrist.

_"Good Morning Connie Jerk."_

She ended up throwing the watch to the other side the room and pulled the pillow over her head, deciding to take a few more hours so he wouldn't win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks, GIS is definitely a reference to Whispers


	2. Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes Connie's job requires her to take unsavoury actions with the occasional unsavoury result...but with a better outcome than she realises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Forgot add one last part to this chapter.

It'd been a week since that incident and since Connie arrived in Mega Beach City. It was around five am in the morning on a dreary Friday, skies over cast and the drift of the wind playing with the unsecured strings of her bed hair, after another hard night of work.

In nothing but her black lacy black bra and panties, Connie leaned against the railing on the balcony as she dipped the cigarette between her fingers. Jobs had come and gone, although some of them would stolen by that insufferable Steven. Tensions rose over who would take what job and it kept Connie on her toes. She told herself on the daily, that she enjoyed the challenge, but Steven would always be one step in front of her and had done so to stir her up something fierce. She failed to understand how quick he could be and his own wit to boot, taunting Connie constantly and riling her to the point where if her blood could boil any hotter, her skin would radiate steam.

He must of thought that, ever since that first job (which her client was more than satisfied with the results) that she owed him for allowing her to mark it as complete, done and dusted. And ever since then she had since returned to the Domain and the Ancillas never bothered her again. Life had its cycle as Connie had desired, though not to the extent she wanted it to be. Two worlds in one, filled with equal amounts of drama and lowlives always looking to make a quick buck or two. Connie's job took her in either extremes...the real world covered bases of stupid people and the Domain had plenty of smart but otherwise, those who weren't called to be street smart.

Connie was both. It was her life to intrude, invade and reap the rewards. Some nights spent in clubs, hawking and scoping out targets. She wasn't above sleeping with a few to get what she wanted, being the excellent actress, but it wasn't too difficult: most guys (and girls) that attended these clubs were normally after a bit of nightly comforts. Those rare moments hacking into their computers after feigning interest were more heart pumping anyway, with one night stands simply tools for her to take advantage of. After all, millions lived in this city and billions that visited the Grid on a daily basis. It was unlikely she was going to see them again anyway.

Rituals were the evening norm before these jobs were enacted. Shaving hairs off her legs, taking her medication, putting on special contacts, doing her hair and make up. Scantly clad. Often showing her midriff. Seducing people with the right moves wasn't hard either...human beings were such disgusting creatures with the way they could succumb to depravity. Connie never found herself getting attached to any single being...She hated humans; only tolerating some because she needed them.

Love had come and gone and it'd been forever since she'd been in a proper relationship. These opportunities didn't come around all that often and tonight was going to be one of those nights. She had spent the night before stuck in parts of the Grid and with many contacts (all the while trying to avoid Steven where she could.) Her latest client was some gold digger blonde who wanted proof of her man cheating on her...when in actual fact that she wanted Connie to get access to his bank accounts. Easy peasey. This was, unfortunately all too common, however. But she promised Connie a good sum of her boyfriends cash if she had retrieved his details.

Sounded simple and Connie's done stuff like this plenty of times to know the drill. After her morning breakfast of inhaling tobacco, she could have gone back to bed but today was all about the connections. Besides, Pat wanted a catch up in the real world.

So they picked a time and a place. Inconspicuous but otherwise relatively busy.

A balcony cafe, not exactly the most popular but Pat claimed it had the best coffee in Mega Beach City. Connie would be the judge of that. The time was about nine thirty and the eastern sun peered through the cracks of tall towers, the amber glow warm against skin. 20th century wooden furniture and the like.

The two were on the nearby bench, overlooking the city and watching the cars fly by, heavy but consistently flowing traffic. Invented in 2039 if Connie recalled correctly.

"Another one of those clients huh?" Pat queried.

"Excited?"

Connie getting laid for the explicit purpose of work verses getting laid because she wanted to were two completely different things. Professional and easy to detach once the job is done. This guy was a jerk through and through as was claimed to be.

"Like popping a zit." Connie replied dryly, lighting up another cigarette.

"I'm just another skank looking for money."

Pat snorted as she drank her coffee.

"Yeah I didn't peg you as the type to settle down easy. One of these day Con, I swear...you're gonna come across someone and you're gonna not wanna let them go...either that or you'll get a stalker."

Connie always ensures that doesn't happen. Everything about this had a way of doing it the right way without compromise. 

"I doubt it." She said.

Pat then grinned.

"What about Steven? He doesn't seem to wanna let you go from what I've heard."

Connie didn't even want to think about him at a time like this. Guy had zero charm and was just a bozo who got in Connie's way. He's tried to one up her one too many times throughout the week and if she was going to see him in the face, she'd need someone to restrain her from beating the living daylights out of him.

"Steven is a narcissist pretending to be a good wolf bitch wrapped in warm sheep's clothing that makes him appear as a genuinely nice guy. I'm sick of waking up every damn day to his messages and no matter how many times I tell him to stop, he finds a new way to be annoying."

That just made Pats grin even wider.

"And yet you've not found a single way to take him down. I thought you were better than that Con."

Connie was tempted to pour her coffee over her friend, but she was a better person. Sort of.

"I'd rather not give him the satisfaction of resistance. The best I can do, is just ignore him." Connie told her, sipping her drink, before taking another puff.

"Like you have been so far?" Pat pointed out.

Connie's tried...but something always set her off...it was either calling her Connie Jerk or more commonly, Berry-Girl. He was just a damn Biscuit Boy; supposed to be easy to break and consume.

"I've still got some work, despite the shit he pulls from time to time. Asshat tries to intervene in several incidents but otherwise I still get it done in majority. Berrybyte does _not_ give up that easily."

Pat finished up on her coffee; taking the last sip as she stood up and prepared to leave.

"Of course she doesn't." Pat said mockingly.

"Well, I've got other stuff to do. Actual work my friend...good luck with tonight, let's hope Steven doesn't show up but he probably will."

Connie gave her a wave and returned to her position, peering out into the city scape in deep contemplation. Steven would just come up at the absolute wrong moment, somehow, somewhere. But never in real life. It had her think hard about him and where constantly popped up. He was found more so in the Domain that out in real life and Connie had ventured to a few spots within Mega Beach City, high, low and constantly in the middle. His interventions were always online or within the Domain itself. Fascinating. She's attempted to knuckle down his IP more than once, but would always get nowhere. She had to begrudgingly accept his skills and tricks, where ever he decided to place himself.

* * *

Later on that night, Connie had herself geared up and was preparing to head to a VR Club known as Sour Cream; another narcissist naming the place after himself; the aforementioned a DJ who owned the place. Customer would pay a fee and would hook up to the Club part of the MBC Grid Network and have a good time; or they could always hang out in real time and drink if they preferred or didn't have the Domain Port installed. The place was always flashing with lights and heavy techno music. The main part was always wide and open with the multiple tiered dance floor and surrounding white coloured booths and the VR inserts were in the next room.

Tight, sleeveless cyan top that covered part of the neck, pressing hard against her collarbones and was cut off above her stomach, with a matching short skirt and thigh high black boots and a sparkly black clutch with silver chain. Her strawberry pendant on display for all to see as it glistening on her chest and her special blue contacts, expensive to develop, that were hooked up with an app on her phone that recorded everything she could see and granted her a special hud, connected to the Domain to help identify faces and put names to them within a few short seconds once given focus. 

So many young people would come to these places with simple, primal goals in mind, but you'd see the odd group of girls clustered together at a booth, taking selfies. Connie wasn't against having a good time...she was all for it. If she didn't have such a detachment to humanity she would be in the same group like them. Some alternate life, maybe.

She managed to track down her prey; 27 year tanned male brunette with short hair and his annoyingly blue scarf. Why the hell would you wear a scarf in a hot and humid dwelling? Connie hated him already. Still, she had work to do. She decided to make the approach as he was on the dance floor and Connie had to shift herself in a way that would get him to notice her. She would always feel gross doing so but she had to remind herself she was getting paid to do this and there were always worse positions to be.

After a few minutes she saw the glint in his eyes, making his way towards her as the two got closer, in the modern day mating dance people would come to accept as a new standard...Connie would hope as the 22nd Century arrived in a few months, that there would be new methods to this madness. But if it worked, it worked and worked it did.

The two went to the bar and began to talk. Half lulled eyes as the two spoke about interests. The bullshit chatter was commonplace to gain interest but if the interest was already there, then there would always be that little bit of time of drinking to get themselves relaxed, waiting the appropriate time to ask the question. It was normally a good indicator as you would lean against the bar table, laughing and giggling at stupid shit and it was a good indicator that the moment to go would come around. Connie already had him clawed, but she would let them go at their pace and make the request at their leisure, otherwise, Connie would dare to tread and spill it out for them if they took too long. Some didn't get the signs and that was frustrating, but normal.

Finally he asked the question, but after he did, he had to leave to go to the bathroom first, as Connie lingered there tapping her fingers on the bench, going to her phone as she was communicating to her client on her status. It wasn't until then that a larger man with blonde dreads, bulky and wearing glasses sat in the mans place.

"I wouldn't go with him if I were you." He said.

Connie raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" She said.

The man cleared his throat. Wearing a pink Hawaiian shirt and shorts, this guy had an interesting aura, not to mention his scent, but his eyes; possibly because of Connie's contacts scanning them, were flashing pink periodically. Was he wearing special contacts too? Even with wearing glasses?

"That guy is totally bad news." He said.

"He's a known predator in these parts."

A predator? Surely not.

"Look, I don't know who you think you are, but I know what I'm doing." Connie commented.

Connie usually made sure she researched individuals beforehand. The guys name was Kevin and he was a known wealthy socialite. But nothing indicated him more than being a jerk.

"That's because his family covers his...wrongdoings." The man said.

"Picks up fine chicks such as yourself, and then...well, I can't say too much. I can however, talk to you in the VR."

She had just seduced the guy and was waiting for him to return so they could go to his place. She couldn't stop now.

"I'm flattered that you're trying to protect me." Connie said.

"But I can protect myself. Even if he is who he says he is."

It was then Kevin came back, as Connie grinned as she stood up, but then felt the man's hand on her arm.

"Please, I beg you to reconsider." He pleaded.

Connie pulled her arm away from him. He sounded pretty serious about it this time.

"Ready to go babe?" Kevin asked.

Connie zoned out briefly, her eyes back on the man as she attempted another scan. Though her HUD on her contacts gave her a short, unusual message.

_Be careful Berry-Girl._

It gave her pause, looking at the man again as she tried to do a facial scan. This man was...Ronaldo Fryman? Never heard of him before, but the message itself...

It had to have her rethink her options. Was Steven trying to get to her yet again, but the fear in Ronaldo's tone had her rethink. She knows geninue from fake. She'd noticed the familiar markings on the back of Kevin's neck, just above the scarf as he had gone to the bathroom previously. It gave her an idea.

"You have a Domain Port? Why don't we have some fun in the VR Room? "

* * *

Why she was going to do it there? Dangerous and safe and protocols would be in place for any funny business. So the two made their way into the next room, although she could feel Ronaldo's eyes piercing into her as they went in.

The Room had a bunch of special pods where they had people relaxing in comfy round chairs with their head sets on. The two talked with the Bouncer AI hologram, a giant purple guy with numerous symmetrical pulsing lines on his body who welcomed them in, paid their dues as they took their seats next to each other in a private set of pods, isolated from the rest. This sort of thing was common as well, isolated sections of the Grid and the VR to individuals looking at enjoy themselves in unique ways.

Once hooked up, they'd come across a home screen projecting multiple designs of private rooms. Kevin allowed Connie to pick...and she picked the big glistening and glowing neon suite, pressing her hand against the picture and the room had pixelated itself into existence. With the VR Scenes, they were given more processing power to focus on smaller projections. So everything looked as real as it could be, and the physics simulated to the highest quality. The room held beautiful blue hues, with a mini bar, box couches and a round bed with multiple pillows and cushions of various shapes and sizes.

Connie herself jumped the bed, leaning back as Kevin approached the end, sliding himself on as he hovered above Connie with the suave, seductive grin. The two began to make out and rub their hands all over the other, as Connie's mind went to work.

Her usually show within the Domain granted her more advantages as compared to the real world; subroutines that went to work as she inserted a program into his Avatar as she kissed him. Normally, the outside world required the boring method of sleeping with someone and getting a hold of their personal devices while they slept afterwards. This version was more fun.

The pair began to strip. until Connie's HUD started flashing red, giving her another message.

_WARNING, WARNING, UNKNOWN TROJAN HAS BEEN INSERTED._

She immediately pulled back as her form started to glitch. Her HUD had become frantic, flickering back as she lost control, with Kevin forced her body on the bed. Connie began to panic.

"What the?"

Kevin laughed.

"Oh don't worry my little flower." He said.

"My program is simply gonna have to rewrite you to my desires...so then I can take you home and keep you there. You'll love it."

No. She was not. She had a back up plan in case she was attacked. She had her subroutine hard at work trying to fight off the virus, running at capacity as the virus was fighting just as hard. But how did this? He tried kissing her and Connie tried to resist, but her Avatar was not listening to her. The Subroutine as working as hard as it could, but it wasn't enough.

She tried replacing her psyche by switching places with her Subroutine, putting her Avatar on auto-pilot as she placed her mind in the scope of the VR's Modification View; a setting normally reserved for AI's and the developers of Private Grids, so she could be in the void and alter settings to her liking, a big screen of blue text written in numerous lines of complex code in structured sentences. She could see her Avatar and Kevin's Avatar information and worked hard before Kevin could violate her form completely. She only had a good thirty seconds at her estimation, but her focus was on both the trojan and Kevin's Avatar.

The Emergency Ejection was, of course locked...so she had split of weaker subroutines to work through at a slower pace to get that feature unlocked just in case, but Connie's psyche tried to figure out where to hit the trojan the hardest.

" _Here, let me help._ " Mentioned text in pink.

Pink lines then started to take over the text, in structures Connie herself barely understood. The Trojan itself had no chance, being swarmed with massive amounts of unknown code. Connie immediately refocused her subroutine processing power on the Emergency Ejection and within no time flat, they were brought back into the real world.

First thing Connie did was jump out of her pod and go to punch the guy, who was still hooked up to the the system, although he didn't seem to budge. She looked at the screen above the pod which demonstrated the inner VR visuals, had his Avatar locked up in a pink hexagonal cage, banging on it and screaming to be let out. Connie swallowed, as she had left the VR Room immediately, a bit weary from the sheer amount of input she had tried to escape from and left the Club.

* * *

She had stormed off home and isolated herself. She had created a private server for herself to do a quick check on her Soulware, the form that helps maintain her psyche and conscious thought, but didn't connect her to the Domain outright; with her insert the cable into her Domain Port and her monitors showing different aspects of her Soulware. To her relief, everything came up clean. She sighed with relief, sinking into her chair.

Sitting up, she decided to get changed and analyse what went wrong. The Subroutines were too weak? She'll have to give those a good review and update them where necessary, but she was too flustered and frustrated at herself; only realising that the bug she planted into him, he had done the same to her. She then looked at her phone which had recieved a text.

"Hey its the guy you met in the club, Ronaldo." It said.

"I heard what happened. Pick a place, I want to talk to you."

She was hesitant, given what had just happened had her flabbergasted and confused and downright angry and fuming. How Ronaldo got her number at all...

"Oh and that I'm supposed to mention something about Biscuit-Boy? What ever that is."

Oh...but of course...now she can see...it should have been obvious. The pink contacts, the pink text....somehow related to him in way. That just made Connie all the more irritated at the mere thought of it. She debated it for a good five minutes, allowing herself to calm down. No, she wasn't going into the Domain again. She wanted to see him, face to face. No tricks.

"I could suggest Beach Citywalk Fries. Best fries at this time of night."

Connie groaned. But if she could get answers...or she could scream and berate..one or the other. Her client wasn't going to be happy, but maybe she should pull into her client. Nevertheless, she inhaled deeply, grabbing her coat and going out the door.

* * *

The place was sort of busy? A restaurant on a 55th Floor of a 105 floor building. Connie took a taxi, landing on the outlier and seeing the small lines going up to what claimed to be best fries in Mega Beach City. A similar man looked like Ronald was serving customer, until Connie heard a _pssst_ sound from her left, seeing Ronaldo sitting by a laptop in the far corner, by a table with a red and white parasol.

She sat on the opposite side, looking peeved at the man as he sipped on his milkshake. Connie just wanted to get straight into it.

"Right now, I should be reprogamming and checking my security protocols." Connie said.

"What the hell just happened?"

Ronald sighed, placing his milkshake next to the laptop as he took off his his huge white headset.

"I told you, the guy is a predator." He whispered.

"Kevin purchased the Trojan from a relatively known but unknown malicious hacker group. You may have heard of them."

Maybe if he gave her more details.

"Well, maybe I should know who you are first. Who are you really and where is your...let's say, benefactor?"

Ronaldo raised an eyebrow.

"My benefactor?" He said.

Connie groaned, rolling her eyes.

"I know you're in league with him. Biscuit Boy?"

Ronaldo's eyes lit up.

"Oh Steven? Yeah I know him." He said.

"He calls me Fry-Boy. Common thread. I work for him on the side. Gives me all sorts of nifty gadgets and programs. Mans an absolute legend!"

So the guy puts himself out there and hires proxies to do his dirty work. Typical. She's seen this plenty of times and it all seems to fit with those with enough, power and money to provide an influence.

"Where is he then? I demand to have a chat. That incident was not normal."

Ronald looked to the side as he sipped his milkshake again.

"I uh...I don't know." He replied.

Oh great...now they had to lie.

"Don't give me that crap Fry-Boy." Connie said.

"You have met up with him face to face?"

Ronaldo looked behind Connie, as the lines to the counter had begun to disappear with the last order flying off.

"You don't know. He hasn't told you what he is?" He asked.

An asshole, but Connie let him continue.

"He's an AI."

Connie furrowed her brows, perplexed.

"An AI? He's way too....human to be an AI." She commented. How much of that could be seen as truth, as Connie began to try to understand more.

Ronaldo shrugged as he sat back and leaned his arm above the back of the chair, deflated.

"He sent me into Club Sour Cream because he knew an affiliate of the Empire would be there. We've been tracking Kevin for months...but he's just another one of their tiny, hapless lackies. So we're back to square one."

Connie didn't care about Kevin at this point, she wanted to know more about Steven's existence as an AI; an impossibility as he had to be quite an advanced one of his design. She was keen to get out all she could out of Ronaldo, at least an ally she could perhaps, maybe count on. He had warned her after all. Her pride didn't want to accept it, but she wasn't going to let this go. It was then the cook had arrived as he gave a milkshake to Connie, though she wasn't sure if she would accept it.

"Strawberry Milkshake, on the house." He said.

Oh no...not again. She took it from him, though, she looked at him strangely. Why were they being so generous?

"That's my Dad." Ronald said.

"Steven's saved our hides in the past so the only way we can really repay him is being his eyes and ears on the outside world."

Interesting, as Connie sipped the Milkshake...it was actually pretty good.

"We were being harassed by thugs looking to give security detail in exchange for protection money. Steven came in and sorted them out. Never had a problem since." Mr. Fryman explained.

Really...well, an AI that had that much of an influence on this city alone could be staggering.

"Funny that, he seems like an Angel to everyone else but he prefers to be a dick to me. Not surprising." Connie droned.

Mr. Fryman chuckled.

"He's just trying to have a little fun." He said.

"He doesn't take kindly to Hackers though..."

Ah that would do it. Connie would forget about much her people could be menacing from those on the outside looking in. 

"So why save me?" She asked.

"I could have gotten myself out of that sticky situation if I had more time."

Ronaldo and Mr. Fryman exchanged glances.

"Steven is...still a mystery to everyone." Mr. Fryman said.

"AI's maintain the the Grid, the Domain and keep everything functioning. It...it is an little unusual for an AI to willingly engage with humans. I mean, with him, coupled with the Crystal Ancillas and the Empire? It's best for humans to stay out of something we can't even begin to imagine."

The infamous GIS, as Connie had been told about many times before. But that word, the Empire...she's known of them, their name used a bit in forums and in the Domain...her years of experience have landed them in her hands a few times. They paid well for people do to some of the more impossible jobs over the years. Connie herself included, looking up to them as a mysterious group, just as much as the Ancillas. But if Kevin was a part of that group...or if he had paid them to get a hand on their trojan virus software...Connie had to be extra careful from there on. The Empire didn't favour good or evil...like a hacker, they would sell themselves and purchase others like stocks.

"Has anyone tried to get to know him...better?" Connie queried. Not that she really wanted to, she just needed to know where his aim was at.

Ronaldo shrugged.

"I do my best to simulate Fry Bits for him...some reason he just likes the taste." He said.

"I mean, I guess there's something about humanity that fascinates him? Not sure."

In a state, Connie found herself becoming more...invested to investigate Steven himself, the program that hungers for the human esque experience. Not much else than being nothing more than a horrible nightmare in some cases but he definitely was an interesting one. He was still an asshole in her eyes from taking or stopping her from her work, but otherwise in that sense that if what it was meant to be human, a hero in their eyes that yes, hacking wasn't exactly a noble path and that protecting other humans from her was seen as a positive in the eyes of others.

"Maybe I should have a proper talk with him." Connie declared, her pride telling her the exact opposite.

"I find it hard to believe that you two are the only ones he's come in contact with that's he's willingly allied himself with when all he does on a daily basis is to protect the City Grid."

AIs were often difficult to track down, given they have a much higher processing system from within the Domain, not limited to the fragile Soulware and Psyche of humans that dip in for a limited time. Their entire existence, depending on a mystical frame work that has been a part of the Earth for goodness knows how long and that everyone depends on an entire alternate reality for most communications.

"You'd think that, but there's only so few he can trust." Mr. Fryman established.

"But he's shown an interest in you...so I think he'll answer your call if you ask him."

That was most likely true. Steven found her twice...in either case when she was in a swarm of millions and billions, he'd somehow always find her, despite her normal methods of covering her tracks quite well.

"He has been messaging me, despite me never giving him the light of day or my numbers." Connie said.

Ronaldo smirked and crossed his arms.

"Hah...you're lucky...I should be jealous. I had to get my Domain Port upgraded to a DP-4.5 recently."

The new one?

"I haven't even got that, I only have DP-4.0." Connie said, eyes widened. She had no need to upgrade just yet and she had heard about DP-4.5 but didn't have the need as the upgrades themselves weren't exactly massive, though given this recent attack, she might have to consider it. The upgrades did talk about overclocking potential with the chip produced not heating up as quickly with heavy downloads. Not that Connie had any huge issues with the way she handled her work had her constantly tweak her specs to allow for less impact on her chip so it never warranted her to get it fixed up until DP-5.0 would bring in new features and existing intersecting features from previous updates.

"Rookie." Ronaldo mocked.

"But definitely do it. If Steven asks for a ride, please...please let him trust me it is the most amazing thing you will ever do."

Steven...riding on what, exactly.

"But I would recommend upgrading...DP-4.5s should allow double jacking for I think, an hour or two before it overheats? Standard 4.0's will only last like five minutes."

She's heard of double jacking...two minds in one. Not that Connie liked to share, especially with an AI...and especially with what just happened.

"Ronaldo I just got out of being infected with a trojan. I think it'll be a while until I let anyone into my head." She said.  
Ronaldo widened his eyes.

"Oh sorry, sorry I forgot...I just think back to the first time we did it. Steven was so...thankful for allowing him to see everything outside the Domain. I'm working on some other people with some new tech that should help make it easier for him...I just need the funds to produce it."

Oh?

"Wait, what kind of tech?" Connie questioned.

Mr. Fryman beamed.

"After upgrading his Domain Port, Ronaldo's been working on a special Crystal Projection Disc; uses Alien Tech?"

Alien Tech? How the hell would they get Alien Tech? That stuff was usually coveted by Governments and them lording over every bit they could find.

"Steven has some friends who will be able to procure the materials." Ronald revealed.

"But I need the moolah in order to get it made. Alien Tech is not cheap."

The Black Market, most likely. Connie agreed that if anything popped up there, it wouldn't go cheap and it wouldn't be long until some one with the cash whipped it up in no time flat. Connie sipped the straw of her milkshake, pondering on the advantages and disadvantages. If she could provide the finds and do all this work, then she'll be able to get Steven under her thumb and to her mercy. She only wanted his secrets if anything else...information about an AI like him would score a great deal on the Black Market alone. Even if this job failed, she had an ample amount of credits within her accounts that she should be able to provide Ronaldo if necessary to fund his special disk...and if she still had enough, she'll see to it that she gets upgraded to 4.5.

She's played nice before...since playing nasty for so long has Connie lying in a filth of her own sinful conscious. And the Trojan incident had Connie reeling for revenge against Kevin...speaking of which.

"I'll pay for what you need." She said.

"Just tell me what the hell happened in the Club? How did Steven get into the Private Grid?"

Ronaldo crossed his arms and looked all smug.

"Oh yeah, so....the double jack thing? That was me...and him...he told me to get into the server room and get him in there."

Interesting...could explain the flickering pink eyes then. Connie could see some use to this.

"But you'll really fund this then?"

She didn't see why not. There was a definite benefit for her in the long run. More allies, better tech. This experience had her more educated, if anything and Connie was gonna reap the rewards, big time. She's made risky, big investments in the past...and stuff like what Kevin tried to do was not the first time either. Keeping her cool and calm would have won the race eventually and she had to prove herself better than Steven in any way possible, that her human brain was better equipped to handle matters than a silly AI that wished it was human.

"Yes of course." She said with a big smile.

And an even bigger one when she sees from the screen of her phone, that the program she had inserted into Kevin before hand had finally completed its upload. Things could only go up from here.


	3. Uploads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just because Connie has allies, it doesn't make her life easier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skip is basically this worlds version of Skype.

_Good Morning Berrybyte_

Another early morning, her lungs, scorning. Sirens every ten to twenty minutes...the air was dry, but it would be humid again by late afternoon.

Care factor zero as the sun struggled to rise over the haze, Connie in her lacy bra, underwear and silky navy dressing gown and again, with another cigarette and again on the balcony with a cup of coffee sitting on the rail itself. It allowed her to boot up her conscious thoughts, after being lost in within the randomised coalescence of her dreams.

Dreams being their own, puzzled parchments of time of nonsense, the mind sorts itself in the strangest ways. Not that Connie paid too much attention to them, but she's heard from random people how the human mind could be seen as its own type of fleshy type of software.

Come 2049, studies and development into the concept 'Soulware' was underway. A company known as PeriCom was said to have helped develop the Diamond Domain in full and it was a raging success that the richest corporations dived on the concept of virtual reality that allowed uses to dive through the internet in a newfound way. It wasn't until 2089 that the first prototypes of the Domain Port were emerging in the market and even then they were so extraordinarily expensive that only the Mega Rich would have been able to access the first versions of the Domain.

Everyone who cares about the Domains history and they know the Domain is supported primarily by Four Superservers that were first patented in 2066; they call them the Diamond Monoliths. One would be developed in each continent, in a secret spot. The White Monolith was the first, built in Europe (said to be in the UK, but others say possibly Germany) and was completed in 2068. The Yellow Monolith was developed in America, two years later and the Blue Monolith would be in Asia, (Reports claim either in Korea or Japan) in 2071.

The Fourth one, the Pink Monolith had been a subject of controversy. Africa was supposed to have this one but it was later reported to have disappeared. It was constructed not long after the Blue Monolith was completed as the first four were merely test types and the Pink was meant to be the full production model. The Domain didn't suffer too much from its loss, keeping most of the Domain stable with the other three to cover most of the planet, as White supported most of Europe and could cover Africa easily (due to many upgrades over the years), Yellow would cover both North and South America and Blue could maintain the majority of Asia and Australasia under its wing. But as the Domain continued to grow, many feared that it would at some point in the near future, possibly in the new year, begin to falter and weaken. The three existing Monoliths would continue to be upgraded, but even their reach could only do so much as some feared their hardware were becoming obsolete quicker than they could replace crucial parts, since plans for another four Monoliths after the Pink one were in the works, but until the Pink one could be found, PeriCom only focused on the existing ones and offered a huge reward to anyone who could find and deliver the fabled Monolith back to where it was supposed to.

Of course, the media was all over it, their interviews with the elusive executives of PeriCom said that there was nothing wrong with the Domain and that they will continue to look after it for many years to come, despite some evidence of the Domain becoming buggy and despite the companies efforts with the hundreds of patches. So, forums began to question and fully believe the remaining Monoliths were indeed outdated and considered too old support the rapid growth. The Pink Monolith was also said to be out there still, supporting the Domain and may have been the reason why the Domain itself hadn't fallen apart already. They just couldn't locate it.

Connie would scroll through her phone and see every day that the bounty for the Monoliths safe return was still there. She wasn't actively hunting it down, but...one of the reasons she had come to Mega City to begin with, wasn't just because for new beginnings, but there was talk that the Monolith was last tracked here.

So far, nothing suggested that the Monolith had been here in any way shape or form...she suspected Empire might have something to do with it, favouring some locations to hide their goods depending on the reliability of their contacts and allies. This was not even going as far as to mention, the talk on a load of forums that the Domain was built on Alien Tech and that PeriCom had been hiding the secrets because they didn't want Governments to know they were holding out on them. Connie would give it time, believing PeriCom were paying off the right people to keep quiet...or paying people to off the people who couldn't keep quiet.

Still, the reward was something else....it would have Connie retire early and she wouldn't have to deal with the troublesome Steven.

Going through the messages, the caffeine fuelled the switches in her head as she only just remembered she was supposed to give Ronaldo the funds necessary for his special chip to be developed...all for the sake of helping that insufferable AI.

So she finish her cigarette, flicking the butt over the edge nd downing the rest of her coffee, taking the mug in as she made another one...For Connie, the scent of the coffee was such a beautiful smell. Once made, she had gone to her work station, putting her cup on the side and booted everything up, flipping switches and so forth as she arranged for the bank transfer, only to get a Skip message from Steven, his pink window standing out against all the dark blue.

"Hey, if you've got time, can you dive in? I need to give you something." He said.

She wondered how much Ronaldo said to him about the proposal. Connie groaned, slipping on her special fingerless gloves as she typed (to prevent carpal tunnel). Getting dressed was something saved for when she needed to leave the house...some days she'd forget to shower because she'd be working so hard or she'd spent the bulk of her day in the Domain that it didn't really matter. She hovered her fingers over the keyboard, not hesitant to reply, but was trying to think of a way to respond. He was an ass, but...

Could she be civil?

" _Yeah let me get some stuff done and I'll be right in_." She replied.

And all he said was.

" _Thanks_."

Thanks...pfff...how...blunt...cold in a way that text could provide...would have preferred the excitement of an exclamation mark, if anything.

She'd negotiated with Ronaldo first about the first part of the funds...when he messaged the numbers Connie was gobsmacked, although for the price of 20,500 Credits, a piece of Alien Tech at that price was practically a bargain. She had to make sure she wasn't getting cheated on, though Ronald pleaded that it was going to be worth it and that he promised he wasn't making this up to draw money out of Connie bit by bit and he would swear to pay her back eventually. Connie's been duped by that before and threatened that if he didn't pay her back, she's going to get those thugs on his ass again and that Steven wouldn't be there to protect him.

Still, the deal was done and the credits were wired to him without further hassle, though she would remind herself that Ronaldo would be her debt...and not just him, but Steven would be as well. For an AI like him, so intelligent and life like, that getting the concept of debt alone would be something she would need to test.

AIs weren't invented by PeriCom, but they did purchase the rights to create them. The Diamond Monoliths were said to be massively powerful AIs, housed in the Superservers which were the only objects in existence that could possibly contain them. No one knew their true size, some people claim they're huge towers built underground and some even say that they're massive satellites. Either one could be true, but PeriCom had never called attention to themselves on a visual basis as Connie had contacts would be able to lock on to any satellite and know which one was designed for what, but some were tricky to suss out...and the Satellite theory was still pretty solid.

Once the money was transferred, she got a Skip message from him, his big yellow and orange hued screen popping up from below.

" _Oh thank you much! I will keep you informed of the chips development. PeriCom would definitely hire me if this works_." He said.

If it works...yeah, that gave Connie a heap of confidence. His intentions to get a job with PeriCom were something he had told her the night before. Crystal Discs housing and projecting AIs would be the next big thing...transporting them out of the Domain and perhaps, even seeing the real world outside of videos and pretty pictures.

" _Don't forget to pay me...I'll accept instalments._ " Connie told him.

She figured his family wasn't that rich...well, it would explain why Ronaldo would want a job with that company. Their employees get paid a great deal...maybe to get themselves out of the fast food business and into the upper echelons of society....though both ends spectrum weren't exactly infallible or perfect in design...Empire representing Anarchy and PeriCom representing Order...so where do the Ancillas fit in then?

" _Noted! But right now, I'm gonna get straight to work! Thanks again!_ "

Minimising his screen and seeing Steven's still sitting there, it had Connie ponder what Ronald had said last night about the Double Jacking and the fact that Steven wanted to see outside world for himself. So she had to think at some stage to get her Port upgraded...again, an pricey endeavour. So she ran some subroutine in the background with several bits of criteria; price, reviews and location. There were thousands who would be able to operate on her, but Connie wanted the best of all three so it would take routine a while until it found the perfect place.

" _Diving in now_." She wrote, before grabbed her head set. Putting it on, the next thing she grabbed black cable. She moved her hair away from the back of her head, and jacked the cable in.

* * *

Her Avatar spawned in with her usual tight black body suit and holographic bar projected around her eyes as she popped into the middle of the Grid. She went to check her hand to message Steven that she had arrived, only to see him right in front of her, with his hands in his short pockets and that stupid grin she hated so much. He wore a light blue jacket, over a dark pink shirt with three yellow stars set in the corner spaces of a white lined cross, like a plus sign. The bottom right was the only one without a star. He wore beige shorts and red sandals on his feet.

"Walk with me to the Docks." He asked.

No hello? Connie inhaled deeply, trying her best not to sound annoyed as she walked alongside him.

"No fancy teleport skill?" She questioned.

Steven shrugged. She expected him to be a little more practical than genericness with all of this.

"I could if you want, but I like walking." He said.

Connie raised an eyebrow.

"Pff...what ever you say Biscuit Boy..."

The Docks were basically said to be a good place to watch certain huge files come and go, often important downloads and uploads as well as people coming in from different servers. Part of it mimicked a beach and it wasn't too far east of the infamous Obsidian Ruins. The ocean was emulated quite nicely here and the sky itself was shaded with the usual blue but the clouds were pink and white. The sand physics were quite well here...since a lot of Avatars liked walking alongside it, watching the Data Packet Ships roll in nearby.

They sat down, looking at the recycled animation of waves and the water roiling and swelling. Gotta keep the RAM happy, after all.

"You said, you have something for me?" She asked, her arms around her knees.

Steven did the same, though he looked at the space between his feet.

"Oh yeah...well, a little something I need to mention first." He said.

"Thanks for agreeing to help Ronaldo and I. It's been hard to get the funds to get Alien Tech around here..."

Connie was surprised. He was an AI who stole her jobs...shouldn't he be loaded?

"What do you do with all the Credits you always make?" She asked.

Oh how his grins continued to drive her with the subtle embers of insanity. Annoying to no end.

"I donate it to charity." He said with a twinge of happiness.

Charity?

"Why would an AI give money to humans?" She questioned.

He shrugged again.

"The world is filled with vulnerable people Connie. They need the money more than I do. I don't need to eat or sleep like you do."

True, but that was besides the point.

"You could still donate and keep some for yourself, save money over time. It's called budgeting. Look it up." She advised.

Then again, what would it matter?

"See that's the thing though Connie..." He said, his tone changing....and him using her name, instead of a nickname, meant he was speaking from somewhere else

"I don't know anything about humans...I want to reach out to those I can but I am limited in what I can do...so the only thing I can do was give where I can...help where I can help..."

AI development wasn't without its own set of issues. Different variants had been designed over the years and some had to be protected due to the increasing scrutiny in the fact that machines were able to talk and think for themselves. A lot of anger and prejudice over pure software that was able to think it was human...

Soulware was a term coined by an age old philosopher and was used when the User Icon had been first utilised. A projection of a humans soul into the Domain was considered dangerous by a lot of the religious groups, some even calling it a sin. When Domain Ports were made was when the term was really in more common use. No one really knows how the development of the mind and soul is actually pushed into the Domain...but they weren't wrong in terms of the risk involved with doing so. As long as it worked, not too many questioned, but modern day researchers philosophies themselves have themselves looking in neck deep and no one theory has ever been proven.

"So you helped me....because I am human?" She continued to probe.

"Steven I'm one of many humans...perhaps I am more your enemy than anyone else...why pick me out of thousands of other potentials?"

He lifted his head as he looked at her in a way that said neutral and unreadable.

"You are like Ronaldo." He replied.

"Ronaldo was the first to notice me...well, I noticed him trying to research AIs specifically. Many try to figure out AIs and... _dissect them_....but Ronaldo had just wanted to talk...like you are now. You, for one, don't treat me like an object."

That's only because Connie didn't know he was an AI until Ronaldo mentioned it. Even so, Connie would have called him out on his bullshit and would have had a subroutine out to track his IP and send someone to knock on his door. If Ronaldo didn't tell him, she would have never figured it out on her own...maybe after a bit of digging perhaps but certainly not straight away. 

"I treat you like a jerk, that's a good a reason as any to stay from me." She warned him, his head looking outwards the simulated oceans.

Connie made it habit to keep her distance too. Less loose ends that way and disconnected herself from others was a way to protect them and herself.

"It's better than being ignored." He said.

"I...can't approach people that often. I don't even know what I was designed for."

How...how did he not know?

"Aren't AIs supposed to know what their purpose is from the moment they're activated?" Connie stated.

He shook his head...so this one didn't.

"I wish I could tell you more." He said.

"But...I need to basically be able to know if can trust you with the information. And I don't."

Interesting. He made the right choice. It would grate Connie otherwise in any other situation, but there was a natural instinct to preserve himself...a habit only found in critical programs. Systems that were important were designed to keep a certain aspect flowing a certain way. AIs were more complex...they were developed to keep multiple systems in check. Some of the smaller ones were designed to keep graphics at certain levels and others to report glitches and bugs...and input patches to fix them.

"Wise." She acknowledged, leaning back on her hands as her fingers dug into the sand, feeling every grain between them as she told the gloves to disappear subconsciously.

"But I paid for the expenses for something that you so desperately want. What does that give me? What would you do if I suddenly took that all away and you were suddenly left with nothing? Stuck here in the misery you made for yourself?"

He stood up, and started walking away. Connie was left confused as she shot herself up and dusted the sand off of her fingers.

"Fucking hell sorry if I touched a sore spot." She called out.

Stopping in his tracks, Steven clenched his fists.

"I was going to give you a special program...but I can't do it if you continue to be a jerk." He said.

A special program?

"Woah woah, you said _nothing_ about a program. What is _that_ about?" She questioned.

Turning around, the amount of seriousness is something she had never seen before, the fire in his pink eyes quite alarming for something like him. The emulation was incredible from that alone that Connie could have sworn that he was indeed human at his core.

"I know what happened last night wasn't the best experience for you." He said.

"But in Mega Beach City, there are more cruel people than there are the nicest...and unfortunately the nicest are the most preyed upon. I can't help some humans with some of their problems because I don't know what it means to be human...to see things through their eyes...to stand by their side and work alongside them. But none of them will accept me...none of them will allow me to discover the real world for myself."

Did he really want to be free of this place? There wasn't much wrong with the Domain...if it weren't for the disadvantages of being human herself, Connie would thrive in the Domain for sure. But...human maintenance had always been the predominant obstacle.

"The outside world isn't that nice either." Connie told him, her voice soft.

"The Domain is a safe space, a haven for some to escape the harsh realities of life. Many would spend all of their credits to be here. Cruel as you say some would be, but people out there are dying due to a lack of food and Governments not giving a shit about the lower class. Humanity is on a slow, tormenting death sentence and...the Domain is just life support...but it gives them the chance to live freely to be who people want to be."

Opportunities in here were far greater in scope as well. So much could be done and they were only just getting started.

"Are you going to deny them their freedom of expression, to be more than what they are naturally?"

Steven looked at the ocean again, the fake winds tussling his jacket and waving his hair.

"Do you really want...the same amount of suffering as us?"

His eyes closed.

"To be human is to know suffering." He said.

"I know that. I see it all the time. I am not going to deny anyone anything...but an AI is meant to maintain the balance of the purpose it was made for. So who maintains the human structure?"

Easy question.

"The sorry excuse of a Government. Cops...the usual..." Connie answered, her hand on her hip.

"You looking to rule humans?"

A scenario many a paranoid conspiracy theorist would fear happen with the introduction of AIs.

"Of course not." He said, swatting her joke away.

"I just...think..."

He..would just...think?

"No...ugh...look, Connie...its hard for me...okay? I'm displaying all this to you in the hopes that you would just...listen to me...instead you think that this is all a joke to you...that I'm nothing more than a misaimed program or an application that think its knows whats best for humans...but that isn't the case at all!"

Connie crossed her arms. His anger was well noted, spiking the area around them into tiny misplaced pixels. If he wanted her to treat him like a real person then he should know the fundamentals of being human. His purpose, his directive...unknown, but possibly being designated for a purpose he knew but couldn't properly describe. His anger, perhaps, a resentment towards his position in the Domain, like was rebelling his true purpose for another reason. Maybe Ronaldo opened his eyes and double jacking with him had Steven craving for that slice once again. Addicts were the worst and most easy to take advantage of.

"I never said it was a joke, idiot." She said.

"Humans have no purpose. Be lucky you were made for one even if you don't know it. Humans have to find some way to survive in this world. Not everyone has it as easy...so consider yourself lucky for not being able to starve to death."

Looking to his side, Connie could see how irate he was becoming. His lack of purpose was a topic that would need to be properly looked at. No one creates an AI for the sake of creating one and one as...if Connie could be honest, well designed like Steven's is to function like a human, without a good reason in doing so. 

"You know I don't like you and I know you don't like me." She said.

"I'm the antithesis...and I can be the Virus before the Vaccine. And you...perhaps your programming had chosen me because of some weird algorithm, allocating some random Avatar to be part of your ploy to escape the confines...to be as desperate as to double jack with anyone and it chose poorly."

Steven shook his head.

"No. It's...not...let me try to explain it better" He admitted, his voice weak.

"The reason I can't say anything is because the program itself is designed to alter your Soulware. I had to alter Ronaldos the same way, you were chosen because I picked you out for your Soulwares grade."

Connie eyes widened. The topic of Soulware was still a continued debate as to what can change. An Avatar simply was a projection of ones Soulware taken form but not everyone's was the same.

Soulware consisted of the age old topic of Mind (aka the Psyche), Body (An Avatar or Shell) and of course, Soul. The mind acts as the psyche; conscious thought that is able to comprehend the Domain around it and the Soul itself is the being that constantly transmits and receives information to provide and protect the mind and body. An Avatar can be destroyed and a mind with the Soul can be transposed elsewhere. It's considered highly illegal to alter the mind and it has been seen for people to clone minds with disastrous results because it was considered impossible to fake a real mind. The Soul itself was a valuable piece and there were regulations in place that could grade people based on their Soulware.

For one, it was usually Soulware analysts that would determine whether or not you would classify for a Domain Port legally. Early versions had some of those with poor quality end up being brain dead due to their Soulware not being capable of handling the Domain. Analysts would state it was normally something you were either born with or if you had the right tools, could improve your Soulware and its respective grade. Gradings went from FFF (being the lowest) to SSS (Being the highest) Genetics and natural human evolution would improve Soulware in succeeding generations and as technology evolved alongside humanity, Analysts had seen a great decrease of compatibility issue

These days just about anyone was able to get a Domain Port (provided they had the money) but they would still have their Soulware graded just in case there was a problem. Older models on older people for example; their minds weakened as so their Soulware were weakened. They could keep their current DP, but were normally restricted from upgrading because it would risk killing them altogether.

Connie's original DP was embedded when she was about 18; the current legal age for installation. Analysts had classified her Soulware at the time at a decent grade and as of the last check, hers was indeed, higher than most. The top five percent of all Soulware at AAA. At the time of her first installation, Connie was about a A and had reached AA when she turned 21.

"I would have thought picking an S or an SS would have sufficed." She commented. 

Again, a S in itself was a great rarity...only 0.305 percent of the worlds population would even possess such a thing.

"You'd be surprised how hard they're to track down." Steven continued.

"Besides, this will naturally take you to an S grade."

Connie blinked. S grades were sought after due to rarity because of their ability to...well, PeriCom took them because of their sheer magnitude of different they could make in the future to come. No wonder why Ronaldo took Steven's offer up. Still, it would give Connie an upper hand.

"If you had told me that earlier I would have said yes." She said.

"Don't beat around the bush when it comes to this shit, Biscuit Boy. Could have saved yourself a lot of trouble."

Steven rolled his eyes.

"You wouldn't have believed me if I told you outright." He claimed.

"A random AI, or anyone, pulling you off the street to say hey, want a Soulware upgrade for free?"

Hm...he had a point. She would sooner pull a pistol to his head and forced him to dissipate and respawn elsewhere. But this was going to be interesting. Connie's Soulware had gone up on its own and she's never had to find anyone to take her from AAA onward. Average median point gradings were usually BBB or C for most people within the Domain these days. Anyone claiming to upgrade ones Soulware, like with anything, was a pricey and risky process that always had the chance to actually bring it down if the individuals conducting the procedure were careless. She's even seen this happen to other Hackers desperate to get the bleeding edge. Analysts normally recommend the slow and steady path to let ones Soulware grow in power. Everyone was different in terms of how it can improve on the casual non-forced way. Intelligent people, fast thinkers...those with great will power were always the ones to have the talent to increase faster than anyone else.

Pat-Risha had hers upgraded however from BBB to A some years back. She described it as hooking herself up to a private Grid and her Soulware mushing about like it was her mind in a washing machine. Mind-bending in a literal fashion. She was a bit dizzy afterwards but came out okay.

"Okay smart ass I get it." Connie said, running her hand down her face.

"So uhh... what do you want me to do? Need my IP address or something?"

He probably already knew it.

"No nothing like that." He said.

"But you mentioned teleporting earlier. I need to transport you to a Private Grid."

So to connect her to another network which required transporting her real life body to a real life location. She knew the drill.

"Just send me the coordinates. I'll head over asap." She said.

It was then he summoned something she's never seen before. A vivid pink circular warp about his size.

"No need." He said with a cheeky grin, gesturing his hand towards the Warp.

"I've got a secret place that's so isolated that only I can enter. Come!"

Connie took a deep breath. She looked at it and Steven at the same time. An AI's paradise...and his power to formulate a Safe Space within the Domain shouldn't have been surprised. Private Grids that were accessed via the open Domain were advised against, since it would risk Connie's Soulware being cut off from her real life body; resulting in her being declared brain dead. A Private Grid would guarantee less interference but... Connie's had worse predicaments than this and jumping on board with an AI was one of those things she'd never see herself doing, let alone with someone she's come to find grating and constantly interfering with her work.

"Alright alright...but if I sniff anything funky in there I demand you release me asap or else I'm gonna plug this hole with seven Zettabytes of Porn understand?"

Even with the threat, he said nothing and continued to motion Connie to get in. The stamp of immaturity temporarily hit Connie as she slouched and stomped her foot, pulling her tongue at him as she walked forward and stepped into the fort, as Steven couldn't help but continue to smile at how annoyed she was with his lack of verbal response.

Entering the warp, Connie found the cloudy pink skies and the ground itself consisting of magenta, walkable clouds. She could have sworn the scent of bubblegum crossed her nostrils but...she felt the oddest sense of peace in a place as simple as this. Her clothes had changed to a default format; total body sans hands and head clad in tight black clothes and two symmetrical glowing and pulsing blue lines around her body, bending outwards around the breasts and leaning in towards her stomach, before they went out again around her hips to bend around her thighs and calves. Steven had the same, though had the pink eyes and and pink hair....and his body's lines pink instead of blue like Connies and even his skin was glowing a softer pink somewhat...and at his stomach was what was known was a round, faceted Kernel Core...something she had only seen in pictures.

A good indicator you're dealing with with AI or some kind of automated software that holds a shell of a human is that they would have a Kernel Core somewhere on their bodies. It is very similar to Soulware over all. It holds a Shell and a Psyche but it does not have the humanoid Soul, as they are not born. PeriCom talks about Kernal Cores being intentional to see due to regulations within the Domain, important in case the authorities within the Domain had to investigate a programming issue or maybe hunt down the author of the program in case it has gone awry, being the mandatory standard procedure to fall back on. People with the right clearance would be able to easily get access to the Kernel Cores internal programming; find their IP location and root out any issues or even delete the software at its core. 

Not that it came up that often. AI's were scarcely seen anyway and that if one popped up like Steven had, it was there for a purpose and the only reason that it would want to talk to you is that it would..for the lack of a better term, kindly ask you to move or stop what you're doing as one may be unintentionally or intentionally harming or disrupting the Domain in anyway. Connie's had AI's hunt her down before...tough, bulky applications she's always seemed to be able to evade or hack into their Kernel Cores to do her bidding. 

She had been tempted to do that to Steven if he didn't do what she wanted him to. Perhaps, he knew that she was skilled enough to do so and trusting her with the knowledge from the get go that he was an AI was well thought of decision. Had he intended for Ronaldo tell her? Maybe, maybe not...he must have figured, that she would have found out at some stage anyway...given how much he thinks he knows about Connie overall, figuring her out from the grades...she should have known from the signs which were obvious on second glances that this wasn't just another skilled Hacker. AIs were known to be nosy and obnoxious.

"Now, it took me a while on a good way to do this without resorting to using outsider sources. Ronaldo and I worked hard for weeks, but we figured out the best way to upload the upgrades." He said bluntly.

The two stood in front of each other, in this place that would seem infinite, but had to be an illusion of space, given the low processing required for some Private Grids. He walked forward and placed his hands on her shoulders, his big eyes locking into her own. It wasn't to intimidate, but she felt him scanning her in a way only AI's knew how. Fast and critical. Though, she looked at them and could see the truth within his form beyond anything even most people would understand.

AI's had one very interesting attribute as well within this, basic of basic Private Grids. Again, saving on RAM and processing power, these default forms revealing an interesting insight with AI programming, especially within their eyes that can call them out against the humans. Two things; tiny significant black circuit lines that popped out from the backs of the white, tinted pink sclera and faded to nothing as they got closer to the iris. The Iris itself, had this funny animation that played repeatedly, like a it was a spinning CD and it had a shiny faint flash back every second or so. It was more a glow than flash, like his mind was constantly loading and 'thinking'. The harder he thought, the faster the flashes. Connie had sworn to have researched AI behaviours and that in some situations that had required them to multi-task or work extremely hard, had their pupils disappear completely, for example, like it turned out that they had to run an emergency sub-routine that required them to scan hard and fast. It was definitely one advantage AIs had over humans in the way the could handle tasks so quickly and easily.

So Steven must have loaded up the sequences as she could practically sense the percentages rising up from within, preparing the upload to her Soulware. He scarcely moved as his pupils narrowed...a good indicator that he was more focused on thinking that he was with his actions...AIs had the potential to run dozens of subroutines, running their course, their direction in ways Connie never really visualised, working in ones and zeros and the like. She'd never seen it done like this before, usually with uploads and downloads required slots and receipts and the odd chip connected to parts of the Avatars or what ever app they had that could process the data for them. Connie had originally been under the impression that he was going to use lasers or something from his eyes. Pretty cool and Connie has seen transmissions done this way before. So she made sure to keep her eyes open until Steven had completed his side of things.

She was totally prepared...and unprepared when he suddenly grabbed her head and started kissing her with full on intensity. Dumbfounded with with a flash of heat as his lips instantly met with her own, her eyes widened, her form frozen for that moment, before she collected enough sense and control and pushed him off of her.

"What the hell?" She shrieked, standing back as she raised her hands at him to stand back.

"What?" He said, acting like he did nothing wrong.

"You can't...you can't do _that_." She said.

Steven furrowed his brows, utterly perplexed at why Connie was angry at him, tilting his head like he was pretending to be innocent.

"Why not? It's the fastest way to transmit data between us." He said as a matter of fact and in complete seriousness.

Kissing? _Kissing???_ Oh man, he really wasn't human at all. She started laughing with nerve and total disbelief, holding her chest with one arm and holding her forehead with her other hand as she stepped back. How in the world did he think doing that was okay? He stood there, so poised and so normal and yet, unaware of such implications... He had saved her from Kevin's invasive intentions but had the gall to utilise an intimate action as...

_Oh._

Yes it was a method sh _e did_ use and had used on many humans and yes it was a _legitimate_ form of transmission..but... he understand what it meant to do so? AIs had no way of understanding the human condition...the way that some of them used this as much as a tool as anything...was this what he thought it meant? Maybe Connie _was_ overreacting and taking it the wrong way...maybe she was looking into far too much to consider how this method was what it was. But the fact was is that he could trick other humans with the way he acted, the way he looked....and his hunt for what it meant to be human...

Wait a minute...

"Wait, you did this...with _Ronaldo?_ " She questioned, trying to stop herself from snorting.  
"Yeah what of it?" Steven replied without hesitation.

And Steven didn't question how a kiss could be looked at by other people...but the image of him and Ronaldo kissing was an amusing image that she tried to hide her laughter from, thought couldn't withhold a second, longer snort.

"And...it worked?" She questioned further.

Steven nodded, staring at Connie without the hint of shame or embarrassment in his face, form or voice.

"As intended yeah." He said.

"You know this works...I saw that you tried it on Kevin and he tried it on you. He's done it before with other people, it's a practical method and it sounds. Why do you seem so bothered by it now?"

Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure. Perhaps her animosity for Steven even touching her without warning was what really caused it. Connie was usually the one the make the first move and she was too struck with surprise to consider Steven had done this with the purest of intentions. She felt so stupid at thinking it was for something else...

"Is it because you're worried I'm going to insert a virus into you instead?" 

What? No of course not! Well, maybe.

"Just...ask me...consent to do such an action is required." She said.

That gave him a little bit of pause. There were times Connie had to be straight up and be a jerk for a good reason to. But he genuinely didn't quite grasp it, blaming sheer ignorance.

"Sorry Connie. I wasn't aware of that." He said, pretty remorseful.

"I will set a reminder for myself to ask you any time you need Data Transferred....which reminds me, you don't have the latest firmware for your DP do you?"

And just like that, straight back into business.

"No...I am planning for it though so hopefully I'll get something arranged within the week." She told him.

He nodded, his pupils shrinking again as began to think hard again.

"Heh...maybe it was better that you stopped me." He said with amused realisation.

"That was probably not the correct method...that one would have granted faster upload speeds but had the potential to overheat your current DP. I need to accommodate for your current format."

How does one accommodate for the fact that Connie had inferior hardware in this particular context? She felt disgusted in herself...she should be better than this and should have mapped out the benefits a long time ago. Now this was going to be more drawn out than intended.

"Is that an insult?" She queried, though in a playful manner.

Hacker talk was all about the sly back chat and criticism...competition was fierce after all in the climate they found themselves in. The weak destroyed as the strong dominated their fields...but the arrogant could be stupid and accidentally get themselves ripped out of the field due to carelessness. But for the ultra serious, there was a big game in the business to be the best...and Berrybyte had to be the very best.

"Take it how ever you want." Steven said, crossing his arms.

"But if you want an insult...then I should be saying you're kind of foolish to have not upgraded sooner."

It hat sense, Connie found it less of a hassle and found it more fun in the teasing they exchanged. She had been looking at this all wrong...it was supposed to be challenging...for so long she had been left unopposed, but so far, she more lessons taught to her and needed them to better herself even further. Being the best, after all, was basically being prepared for everything. The warmth in the banter was enough for her to go on. 

"Eh...weak." Connie said, brushing him off with ease.

"But getting back on track....if you want to use this slower method then by all means, you have my consent this time."

Steven smiled, placed his hand on chest as he bowed. Pfff...being polite now meant nothing more to serve as mockery.

"Yes, thank you Berry Girl." He responded.

"The upload sequence will take a few minutes...I'm not sure, but tell me if things are good on your end. I can't risk you overheating before we're done or this isn't going to work."

Connie could handle it even with the current version she had. She was far from weak.

"It'll be fine." She said.

"Let's just get started."

Closing her eyes, Steven stepped closer as she prepared to brace for the impact. Despite seeing nothing but darkness (and the the FPS on the top right hand corner of her vision, but very faint) she began to feel his lips on her again. Despite this only baring the basic physics and response drivers in place, it still felt soft and potent. Connie could have projected the psyche out of her body, but something compelled her to stay in the darkness. She could see the pink pop up with the permission to install the software. She chose yes, as the the pop remained in place in front and centre, but her focus was lost in the way he continued to rest his lips on hers. Maybe with Ronaldo (which still found to be a funny image) that the quicker method didn't prompt much in terms of the efforts required in the fine human art of kissing, but they could make this better than that what they had been doing then. Connie breathed in through her nose and moved the window to the left hand side, ignoring it for now. She stopped momentarily.

"While we're doing this, I am going to teach you how to kiss properly." She whispered.

Steven furrowed his brows, looking at Connie strangely.

"I don't know if that's going to make it go any faster." He commented back.

A mischievous giggle vibrated through Connie's throat.

"You want to know what humanity is all about...don't you?" She teased.

And the fact he made a small annoyed grunt satisfied her as she grinned, opening her eyes briefly and daring him to try.

"Y-yeah...I do...I don't get why this is relevant to that." Steven said, a bit perplexed and unconsciously flustered.

Another chuckle escaped her...this was enticing...if Connie could breath life into him, then this was the first of many steps to get him involved. A hand caressed his arm, which forced him to swallowed as their faces were still close to each, with Steven uncertain of what he should do. Connie would have to take the lead on this one. If an AI could show some form of sentience, their learning matrices would surely be entwined with the mess these things can create.

"You make your own damn conclusion Biscuit-Boy. So shut up and kiss me!" She called out, closing her eyes slowly, before quickly digging her fingers into Steven's scalp and forcing him against her, pressing her mouth against his as he swung his arms around her waist.

And on her will and his shaky breath and trembling lips as Connie made the first call as she moved hers against his, heads tilted as she took him in. Physics could only emulate the pleasure, the wetness and the tenderness across the board but it was close enough. It would have been more potent to him more so if they could get the sequences right....how much of reality could they have programmed into the Domain to feel the pleasure, the fire in ones belly, unsure if its a sickness or a desire to be quelled. Do AIs have enough to go on, even if the truth presented to them, is all they could expect?

She pushed her tongue out and past his lips, writing on her tip to allow hers inside. Steven grunted something about five percent, but Connie took that moment, pushing her tongue into his mouth, much to his consternation.

The fact of making out was trivial to Connie...seduction her aim in cases and not all of them ended like how Kevin's did. Men, women and everyone else in between. Teasing people, giving them a nice riling up before they realise they've been had. Connie had a certain moral code and making sure they weren't too drunk or drugged up. No...it was all Connie and her ability to persuade others, and as with Steven in this very warm, intense, gut churning and very wet moment, she didn't have to use words to convince him to let his own simulated tongue play around hers and make its own way into his mouth too

Her HUD said ten percent. Going well so far.

It was quick at first, but as Steven said, they didn't want risk overheating her Port...so they had tried to minimise the rush. But for what ever reason, Connie's senses focused on the smallest detail. The softness of Steven's hair between her fingers and her own heartbeat quickening, as her psyche brought up her heart rate alongside the FPS. Should she be focusing on that? Should she be worried?

There were the slight tears away to continue to report progress from time to time...

" _Twenty five...n.._." Steven muttered.

" _Twenty-twenty six...seven...percent..._ "

Hearing his voice take on that film of that complex strain of emotions...cracking and whining...this was the good stuff...did she need the hub anymore? She was reeling in all of his intensities...the parts of confusion, of discovered desires and the need to explore and the failure in comprehension yet, finding it somewhat enjoyable irregardless of it all twisted it could become. So she shut it off and allowed herself to think and process everything manually as a regular human would...but kept the percentage on there just in case.

She hadn't felt like this since high school, hours spent in empty rooms or corridors...foolish she was back then but she found herself more educated in delivering the goods as well as taking the goods. She was sick of being a good girl like her mother wanted.

The same mother who wanted her to get into politics. Ugh...the only kind of job more corrupting than her own. The need to push others away and not bring them in. Connie chose to be close to others because she only wanted them, preparing to discard them afterwards once she as done. 

" _Th-thirty---thirty five..._." Connie croaked.

So why was this....closeness to Steven, only meant for a single purpose, riling her up more internally than she liked it to be? This was a teenagers act of exploration and Connie was too old for that again. She wanted to get this over and done with but rebelling the need to make pace was only loosened by older feelings once lost and found again as Steven had begun to slowly caress her back, a hand nudging down ever so slightly. She knew where he was aiming...but did Steven understand why he was aiming there?

For some reason, whether it was just something she had come across, but...she wasn't sure if it was a trait that AI's shared or it was just him because he was unique in his code, but...there was definitely a human in there, somewhere...somehow. AIs were designed for complex algorithms and adapt to new situations that they are required to resolve. Steven claiming to have no real purpose had to be a lie, however...He was made for a reason.

Sitting here, tongues in each mouths, the sounds of their mouths popping as they kissed...there was a directive and a direction in his methods. Again, if Connie wasn't told of his status, she wouldn't have seen a difference between him and any other Avatar within the Domain. 

" _Fifty nine.._." Steven said quickly.

By that point Connie found herself heated more so than she had been feeling before. Her skin charged with something chronic. She'd always questioned how the Domain could get it so right that if it wasn't obvious for the graphical glitches and the human eye being able to determine by the smallest detail of what was real and what wasn't, it could be the second tier of reality everyone ever wanted.

With the developments of the Domain...the reports of it falling apart, she wondered what the Pink Monolith could have contributed to the overall scheme of things. Other hackers had expressed the same interest. Could life within the Domain ever begin to surpass reality itself that one that humanity would die off...a mass suicide for those jumping on board to the new reality...where everyone was immortal and no one would be hungry ever again.

" _Seventy....one..._ " Connie continued in haste.

If this could be just as powerful as what real life provided, they would be able to give more...the possibilities were always said to be endless here.

" _Seventy...two..._ " Steven added.

" _Mhmmmm...._ "

He...he _moaned_? Connie would have lied if she said she didn't notice...because she couldn't...a sequence breathed into her and left vibrating down her very throat. Restricted, composed, remonstrated...the utter slow burn brought on by something so simple. Power grown it's own accord. Connie felt even warmer, subjecting her Soulware to the changes as they happened. A third of the way through and Connie could already experience the shift, electrifying as the psyche struggled to keep a hold. With no visuals, Connie would have seen her own form beginning to flicker, a pinkish aura beginning to surround her body.

With instinct Steven's hand finally reached her backside as he gave it a bit of a squeeze. Connie's mind was on the brink of something and that sent a jolt through her Avatar that threatened to tear her apart.

" _Eighty five percent..._ " Connie breathed.

" _Almost there.._ "

His other hand grabbed the other cheek, as Connie found herself jumping up and clinging herself onto him, wrapping her legs around his hips. Adjusting her, he had one arm underneath supporting her and the other against her back. Connie's own arms were across his neck for support. By this point, Connie felt like she was on fire. The tiny klaxons that warned her about her DP's temperature levels started to go off in her head, her vision flashing red as it forced to show her the status of her existing components which would point out what part of her Work Station was having problems. An outline of her body as it zoomed in to her Port and showed it rising up to less than suggested levels. She wasn't worried as she's overclocked plenty of times..those numbers weren't new to her.

"C-Connie..." He muttered.

"Y-you okay?"

She was fine, she would declare herself fine...

"Shut up, we're on eighty nine percent!" Said Connie, her hair a bit messy from sweat.

"Just a little more...."

Ninety...Ninety one

**_WARNING, DOMAIN PORT TEMPERATURE EXCEEDING CRITICAL LEVELS, COUNT DOWN TO EMERGENCY EJECTION BEGINNING AT SIXTY SECONDS._ **

Damn those Virtual Intelligences! The process was on the cusp of completion. She also hated how their voices were robotic versions of an Avatars own. Connie hated hearing her own voice personally.

" _Connie..._ " Steven voiced with caution.

"Slow down _idiot...._ " Connie berated.

He had quickened the pace earlier on with his eagerness...it was his fault...either the system was gonna to fry her brain before it was fully uploaded or she would get booted and they would have to start all over again.

"Ninety two....ninety three...."

Not on her watch.

**FORTY SECONDS UNTIL EMERGENCY EJECTION.**

Ugh...please...

Ninety four, ninety five.

Her form began to glitch out hard core, as Steven forced his eyes open, his pupils disappearing. She wasn't going to make it in time, so he ended up quickening the processing as he hastened his kisses.

Ninety six, ninety seven, ninety eight...

**TWENTY SECONDS UNTIL EMERGENCY EJECTION.**

Ninety nine...

**UPLOAD COMPLETE! SYSTEM RESET REQUIRED.**

Steven's own VI called him out on something he should have expected to hear so he forcibly disconnected himself from Connie as he let her down, but instead her body instantly fell to the floor like a rag doll, her eyes blank white as her body was still glowing pink.

"Oh shit...I completely forgot about that part." Steven said, freaking out over the prospect of this screwing up hard core. He made the quick time decision to kneel down before her and place her still form on her back. He took her left hand and pressed his against the blue crystal part embedded into, forcing it project her stats. Five seconds until the emergency cool down. Steven bit his lip and bypassed the countdown and managed to stop it at 0.01. 

**EMERGENCY EJECTION CANCELLED.** Her VI announced.

Steven sat back on onto his feet as he sighed with relief. He looked at her body, worried that the Avatar had corrupted during the process. He whacked his forehead; how could he forget the system reboot? It was fine..it was fine...he checked everything...the psyche had been put into safe mode...no, he did everything right.

"Damn it, what did I do?" He cried.

He cursed himself for not preparing this as better as he had hoped. It worked fine on Ronaldo, so why was there a problem with Connie? Her Soulware was compatible. Then he realised.

"Shoot, I should have asked her to update the firmware before the installation." He said to himself. He pressed his finger against his ear, making a call out.

"Uhh Garnet...it's Steven." He said.

"You forgot about the Reboot I know." His associate replied.

"Is-is she going to be okay?" He asked her, almost stammering his words.

"You updated her grading. Get her back to the Temple. She needs to be within the Domain and Grid directly. Do it quickly."

He nodded in response.

"Got it, coming to home base." He told her, before hanging up.

He looked at her still body on the ground, frozen in time. She was busy teaching him something and somehow he got distracted. So he picked up her body off the ground and made another Warp Hole to the Temple. He sighed...she was a jerk, but he needed her. He needed the Berrybyte with him because he was so sure...after years of research and arguments with the other Ancillas, that she was the one he had been trying to find after so long. She was special despite her bravado and confidence, her heart was definitely there. He's seen what she could do and what she was really capable of doing. Despite their rough start, she was going to become a powerful ally. Right now, he had to take care of herself until her Psyche restored itself out of the Safe Mode. The first time he did this with Ronaldo he had no problem. Done and dusted but that was because he was on DP 4.5 already. Connie just had never bothered to change hers, for what ever the excuse was. He was confident that she would have been strong enough to take it but...

He checked her DP port's temperature...it had started to cool down at least, but...he wouldn't be able to a complete sitrep until he had Garnet and Pearl check out her biological connections. As he jumped through the warp, Steven was left wondering and fearful as when Connie would awaken, on whether or not she was going to follow up on that porn threat.

Amethyst always said he had a hard time grasping jokes however...


	4. Ethics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie debates what it means to be human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the love so far guys! I do have some funny...stuff planned. Did I say funny? I meant fun.  
> Need to get some designs out for the Crystal Ancillas so apologies if their design aspects aren't as clear cut.

The last thing Connie remembered was kissing him. Visions replayed in her head over and over again alongside the feeling of her brain being fried. She tried to disconnect her psyche from her Avatar, but the fact remained that everything was in safe mode, with a single green flashing dot on simple black backdrop.

Green text appeared, as if she was rebooting. She could read the PeriCom legal scripting and logo and the line after line of code after that, sprinting across rapidly. A white flash imposed itself over the darkness slowly, as the next vision she saw, was a wooden roof above her head. She sat up, jarring unsure of where she had found herself. A bright room and with all the light wood she could see she felt she was in a cabin of some sort. Her hand ran over the soft white blanket, seeing a desk on other side with a simple laptop. Connie instinctively looked at her bare left hand, seeing the crystal sphere embedded into it , meaning she was still in the Domain at this point. She popped up a projection to show her where she was but all it said was, Data Unavailable.

She could hear the crash of the waves muffled from outside, looking out the full length window on her right hand side. Getting off the bed and cautiously walking over, she could see the ocean and the beach so clearly. She tried to open it, but the window didn't budge. Looking to the left, was a single door. Connie looked around, tiptoeing until a mirror popped up as she walked past the laptop, summoning itself on the other side of the desk. Connie was was wearing a simple version of a her default form, except with no sleeves and shoes. Default forms could change subconsciously as far as she could remember. She felt a bit more sexy in this form even if it wasn't too revealing, showing off her arms more so. Turning on her visor, her HUD did confirm that she had indeed being fully upgraded in Soulware to a S grade.

Visions of making out with Steven returned to her in short flashes...she must have had to made a hard shut down, due to the upgrade process. Checking her strats, she couldn't even check her Domain Port, which meant she was in shut off grid somewhere. She had to leave and check herself on the outside because the last thing she needed was everything out there taking a turn for the worse.

The door opened all of a sudden, as Steven walked himself in, wearing his black jacket and pink polo combination.

"Oh you're awake!" He said, smiling.

It also awoke several powerful emotions with Connie, tightening her fists as she was ready to murder him, standing back and trying to keep her distance.

"You fucked up didn't you?" She accused so bluntly.

Steven was left wallowing in confusion at that statement. A huh emerged from his lips, greatly supporting that theory.

"Don't be dumb. Or you're pretending to be dumb. Either one."

Left scratching his head like an actual human, it finally came to his attention of what Connie was even going on about.

"Ohh...that...thing-y...sorry about that. I may have forgotten a teensy step required as the upgrade was happening." He revealed.

Connie smirked. So as long as he could admitted he screwed up, Connie would let it slide for now.

"Yeah yeah you forgot the shut down, goodness grief Biscuit Boy you're not a very good AI are you?" She teased.

And as his face showed Connie all she needed to know about how offended he was regarding that comment, had her tick off her scoreboard with great satisfaction.

"At least you're not brain dead." He pointed out.

True, but that was besides the point. She pushed out her hair as she stood before him, looking at this irritated expression and absorbing it all into her being. She wasn't going to use it as leverage but otherwise grant her a fascinating new view on AIs in general. It wasn't the worst screw up but he had plenty of time to make up for it later - on top of everything else she's contributed so far for an ordinary human being.

"Because I'm tougher than you think Biscuit." Connie boasted, brushing past him as she went into the main area. She could see a simple lounge with three green square shaped couches surrounding a coffee table on top of a white and dark green rug, by a set of shuttered bifold doors that overlooked the beach. The kitchen was on the far side and on the left was an interesting set up with a circular crystalline pad with cyan crystal shards poking everywhere. Part of it looked homely enough, the other...wreaked of Alien Tech.

"Now, where am I anyway?"

Steven walked past her, turning around as he walked backwards and raised his arms to display everything.

"This is my home. You may know it as the Obsidian Ruins. Or the Temple."

Connie's eyes widened.

"Wait, you never said you lived here!" She cried out.

Steven chuckled as he put his hands into his pockets.

"You never asked." He said.

Touche. Connie whined, rolling her eyes as she ran her hands over the soft green couch, feeling the fabric underneath her hands, the sensation memorising as to how they could it so real...and everything she had experienced was so hyper real. She remembered why she had to have the upgrade in the first place in that moment, turning to Steven as he leaned against the dining table near the kitchen.

"So, now that that my Soulware grading has been upgraded, what did you want from me?" Connie queried.

Steven nodded, crossing his arms as he looked at pad to his right.

"I need people to know that there are many AI's that do good and bad things in the Domain." He said.

"Of course, I'd assume you know that and wouldn't care. Except that there are rogue GIS that threaten the stability of the Domain over all."

Gem Intelligence Systems, as Steven had told her previously; dangerous Alien Tech that was said to be rather powerful.

"I work alongside the Crystal Ancillas to take them down."

Was that what this was? Connie shouldn't have been surprised that he was working alongside the infamous group and was disappointed in herself for not figuring that out earlier.

"And you've been giving me the shits in the Domain in your spare time, I assume?" She theorised.

Taking jobs or sabotaging them. Most of them minor, however.

"Look I only let some of those slide because some people deserve it more than others, okay?" Steven stressed.

"Anyway, I needed to upgrade you so you can see who I am working with. Humans with Soulware grades below S can't really interpret them properly."

Software incompatibility. It made sense...given the differences in code and what not. Connie could only ever see them as a mass of messy pixels...unless.

"What about that purple owl? I could see her fine." Connie said.

Steven blinked twice, to figure out who she was talking about.

"Oh Amethyst?" he said.

"She's uh...a long story..."

Amethyst huh?

"Cut it short." Connie ordered.

Though such answer was cut short as the Pad displayed a beam of light and as it disappeared, she could see three individuals.

The tallest one with the big blocky head and big thighs and a shiny visor that prevented Connie from seeing her eyes...a shorter, thinner one and the aforementioned one whom Connie could see was obviously whom they were just talking about...they all had quite the less than human design, their Kernel Cores easy to see. She's never met GIS personally, but now that she could see them properly, it was easy to see the lines on their heads, their alien-esque structure with the same aesthetics as everyone else, wearing odd coats with pulse symmetrical lines that went in to the chest then went out towards the end, known as Data Lines. Most people within the Domain had them as part of the simulations, a culture said to be inspired by Alien Tech itself but these had to be the real deal . Blockhead wore a big one, half navy and half maroon split in the middle, zipped up to her neck with reddish data lines and noticeable pointy shoulder pads, the Woodpecker with a big cyan blue jacket, buttoned up all the way with pink data lines, and the Small-Fry with a dark purple jacket with purple data lines, though hers wasn't zipped up, revealed the black singlet beneath. A Golden star was on their shoulders as well as their backs of their jackets.

"She's a Gen II GIS." Said the tall one.

They liked to listen to conversations from afar, apparently.

"That's Garnet." Steven said. She had two Kernel Cores on the base of her palms. Connie wasn't sure why she would have two, however.

The thinner one looked at Connie with a look of disapproval.

"Isn't she the one who tried to hack into the Temple?" She berated.

And Connie specifically recalled them trying to kill her.

"And that is Pearl." Steven continued along the beleaguered line of introductions, her Kernel Core shining and gleaming on her forehead.

The small one, with the wild hair was a bit different from the first time she saw her. The purple colouring was a dead give away; as Connie's seen through false avatars before. She ran up to Connie, checking her from top to bottom, which, Connie was a bit off put by, but she noticed her Kernel Core was on her chest, half-hidden by her black singlet.

"That's..."

"Amethyst...I know." Connie said drily.

Pearl ended up walking to Amethyst and pulled her away.

"Apologies human, Amethyst gets carried away. She's too interested in humans for her own good."

The devilish grin on the purple GIS told Connie more than she needed to know that she was a Shell Distorter; a special type of shapeshifter that could only alter their Avatar but not change it entirely, only keeping colour schemes and the like. True shapeshifting programs and using false Shells with fake identities were illegal in the Domain, so people use the Distorters to make themselves bigger, smaller or replace... _other_ certain physical characteristics but it had to keep most aspects identifiable to the original Avatar.

"Is that a flaw in Gen II GIS?" She questioned.

It was then Amethyst froze, forming at striking glare at Connie all of a sudden before she stormed off and ran to the warp pad and left. Connie was...a bit dismayed with the sudden shift in mood, getting colder as it became more awkward and tense.

"What did I do?"

Steven sighed, turning to Garnet and Pearl.

"Amethyst is a bit sensitive. Gen II GIS are not entirely commonplace in the Domain just yet." Pearl explained, looking a bit sad.

"A lot of what you see are generally prototypes or in their beta states that are meant to be developed to assist with the lower grades. In this case, Amethyst doesn't like others pointing out to the fact that she has a few bugs."

Oh. Connie didn't even know AI's overall had these types of feelings. She felt that twinge of guilt, even if she didn't quite get GIS in general. AIs were a strange bunch; that's all Connie could really comment on in regards to their behaviours.

"She'll get over it." Garnet said, more monotone as she walked up to Steven.

"But we have important business to discuss."

Connie was all for business right about now...sick of all the secrets and the hype Steven had been busy building up for no other reason than for what ever the Ancillas wanted from her.

"As Steven was telling you, we handle problems with rogue GIS in the Domain. They're quite random and so far not a huge issue for us to deal with. However, as of late, the number of Rogue GIS have increased."

Business as it was; some random faction wanting to take control of something or someone. Connie was listening, however, as Garnet explained the ordeal that they had come across. Rogue GIS within the Domain spelled out many issues; coding unwanted or the risks involved with certain parts of the Domain failing. It's fragile state didn't need the heavy hitters and with everything PeriCom had been trying to deal with to help with the server loads was never enough, that there had been massive blackouts just to cope with demand with the poorer areas being locked out for days or weeks without the Domain. Rogue GIS just served to imbalance the system entirely and if left unchecked, could spell disaster within the years to come. Connie wasn't gonna do this without getting paid however and if she could get her hands on Alien Tech, software even, then she could getting definitely get the upper hand. She didn't want to admit, however, that she didn't really want to fight with AIs. There were too much trouble; dissecting code from human AI's alone were frowned upon, but there were people out there willing to sell botched AI's for loads of cash only to find they were dumb AI's (the common nickname for Virtual Intelligence) systems that more automated than an actual sentient force.

Speaking about cash.

"You know I don't come cheap." Connie told them, her greed coming front line and centre.

"We can accept that." Pearl acknowledged, although she was a tad beleaguered in a way.

"Your funding of the CPD has been crucial for this development alone."

No thanks?

"So what do you need a flesh and blood human like me for then?" Connie asked, a critical thought still unaccounted for.

"I'm just another Hacker lowlife. What would Alien Tech like you even want with me?"

Connie had always wanted to be the best Hacker and she knew she was...it didn't mean what she thought she was doing was right. She was just too good at what she was and the skills she had to give it all away She had a reputation to maintain after all.

"We've come to the consensus that this source of Rogue GIS is on the outside." Garnet answered.

"If someone is replicating faulty GIS clones for example. We needed someone with your record and stats to be able to get us into places we cannot."

Ahhhh yes. Connie has hacked into hundreds of private grids with their own AI's. They weren't designed to be connected to the greater grid on the whole so yes, they wouldn't have been able to get into the private grids by themselves. Connie rubbed her chin, amused by this concept that it charged her heart with the thought of the challenge, sneaking into server rooms, giant ones at that, which would hold all sorts of juicy secrets. Corporate ones were the best, finding bank accounts stored off shore and illegal operations that she had more than once taken down. So many good memories...specifically and especially the time when she had arranged for random shipments of sex toys to a random CEO (using his details and money) that had him in up retiring early. Fun times.

This wasn't the normal type of shenanigans though. Connie loved messing with people over all and to those who deserved it; she took such delight in screwing with their heads. Power used irresponsibly, some would say and she would find those golden jobs here and there that she'll accept them irregardless of how much the cost was.

"Sounds interesting." Connie said.

"You point and I'll shoot, if that's what you're after."

Directed towards her goal and she'll get it done in no time flat.

"Before we can do that, we need to get Steven accustomed to the CPD first." Pearl warned her.

"The portability will have you insert him into multiple systems, but he needs to get his code to figure out how to adapt to less powerful systems. The CPD should allow it to be hooked up to weaker instruments without destroying them."

Connie would be annoyed if they said her system was weak, if not offended but she knew what Pearl meant. Personal Desktops on average these days were powerful, but AI's in general were huge packages of data that would destroy any common system that wasn't their dedicated server. This operation required stealth and AI's weren't exactly designed for that. But it appeared as if Steven was an AI designed to learn to adjust, as opposed to just learning information on the fly as most AI would do.

"I'll have them forward all the necessary requirements and targets." Steven told her.

"I'm sure your station needs an upgrade anyway."

An insult Connie caught instantly, but it had her smirk anyway.

"Yeah it'll need to in order to hold your fat Biscuity- ass without blowing up the moment you're installed." Connie said, giving it as good as she could. Pearl and Garnet were left confused by the statement, but Steven found it amusing himself. Connie could already tell she was going to have so much fun with this alone...and not just because she gets to exchange insults with Steven as well. She checked her stats via her Crystal Sphere; realising she had been within the Domain for longer than she had intended to be; as it was pressing on to the 5 PM mark and she had a lot of work to do during this next week.

"On that note, I need to get out. I'll be keeping busy. Adios!"

* * *

Once she had gotten to an Exit Gate and left the Domain, she could instantly feel the heat of the afternoon as was predicted, the sunset pouring through the cracks on the skyscrapers. Taking everything out and off, she leaned back and stretched, checking her watch again to see if Steven had messaged her in the meanwhile. Nothing yet, but she'll give it time.

She looked at her constantly shifting screens; her VI assistant sorting everything on her behalf and the constant influx of emails sorted into their responding folders in her inbox. The flow of everything as it had been. She looked down; having forgotten she was still in her lingerie. Hours spent in the Domain like this was nothing new, although for reasons she assumed to be because of her updated Soulware, Connie felt a bit different, not a haha, but a funny different. Emotions shifted and locked into new places never explored. Yawning, she got up and went outside for another cigarette.

Her head kept focusing on Steven kissing her and she hated it so much...the impending anxiety and desire as Connie wanted that nicotine to help her relax. He _really_ was an idiot; what was Steven thinking? He could have _killed_ her...if he had just told her what he was planning in the beginning, there would have been little need for the drama and for work like this he would be foolish as to think that she wouldn't accept the job; working for the Alien Tech and the GIS was something rare and would bring Connie newfound glory in the world she had edged herself into like getting the USB stick inserted the first time...a perfect, flawless fit.

She could have been a good girl. But then she would have been seen as weak and taken advantage of. No. Connie had to be tough, ruthless and cruel where need be and the mere pretend game of being amicable with the right people was an exhausting one and Connie would admit she's done some despicable things like framing people for murder when they were a hundred percent innocent just so people could get promoted. Causes that no one else would do or could do. Because Connie could do it...and she would do it because the price was too good to pass up.

But here she was...in this palace of wires, screens and high end machines, surrounded in smoke and humidity. A world forged in lies and the desire to reinforce her life with truth written for the sake of the lies made. For the sake of the destruction and the damage she had wrought against countless others for the money, for the benefit of her and her client alone...no one else. The exchange, the handling, the detail. The underworld under her fingertips where she was the Reaper, the keeper, the wheeler and dealer.

Her mind was so...frazzled that she had made the quick time decision to go out that night. She had gotten changed and prepared herself to go a nightclub for no other reason than she wanted to get drunk and get laid. No job, no nothing. To be what it was to exist as an ordinary person for the evening, to test herself.

She wore a dress that showed more of cleavage, another deep red tight get up that went to her thighs. The Club, known as Ziz, a mostly neon green place with silvery bird like statues. Something that was made by man and it wasn't a hologram was a refreshing sight. Seeking solace at the bar, she sat on the stool, drinking a cocktail, she expressed her thoughts to the cute Caucasian bartender with the warm smile and the goatee and nicely cut sandy coloured spiked hair. A good man, on Connie's account, her mind instantly tripping into how he could be a good person just from how he held himself. A smile that was genuine and not at all fake, serving each and every customer with the same, basic enthusiasm and no one was the wiser.

How could people manage to be like that though. To be nice to those who just wanted something done and done quickly. She watched him serve multiple people and he had such energy with no signs of slowing down. Later on it was quiet and Connie was on her fourth cocktail.

"How do you do it?" She asked him.

The Bartender looked at, puzzled.

"Do what?" He asked.

She sipped her drink before she continued.

"Be nice to people. I mean, its your job so you can get paid I know but you do it like you actually want to be here."

He smiled that damn smile again...it reminded her too much of a certain someone.

"I do." He said.

Connie blinked. 

"Why?"

Ethics of why people do anything at all is a thousands of year old point of philosophy, directed at humanities core purpose in life that Connie loathed to discover for herself.

He shrugged.

"You meet all sorts of people." He said.

"Thousands of faces pass by and I hardly see the same person twice...unless its the regulars."

Connie had dealt with thousands of people and she's hardly ever had the same client twice...unless they were the well paying ones of course. Dealing with the faces, however. She hardly knew most of the faces besides her targets found in photos on company websites. Even in the Domain she's dealt with more people with User Icons than with Avatars as per her last monthly statistics check. She stirred her straw in her big glass, looking at the glowing green liquid in her drink, before she looked him again.

"What are you doing later?"

* * *

Several hours later, they were back in his apartment, having stripped down, making out on the bed and lost in their lust as they fucked the night away. It had Connie forget everything that had transpired as he plowed himself into her. One night stands for the simple desire of sleeping with someone akin to the normal human feeling of being horny...it had been a while. Every time this happened had another purpose. They would fuck (several times) until the other party fell asleep and she would do her work, before leaving the other party to go back home. This Bartender wasn't a target. A regular guy that Connie found attractive enough to allow him on top of her, to kiss her and to come into her. Maybe the second time he made her come as because he was into some kind of unique position but that was about it. Nothing over the top, nothing too complicated...all fixed. Venting, energy release and what not.

He'd fallen asleep well before she did, as she laid there with the sheet on her body, eyes looking at the roof above her. She had trouble sleeping on some nights and oft pretended to sleep until she was absolutely sure the other person was in their slumber; signs of snoring or opened mouths were the usual indicators. She took a deep breath, however...contemplating more than she had anticipated. She was hoping to get some shut eye but somehow, the intended effect wasn't taking a hold as Connie liked it to. Instead, in had her thinking more and that the most disturbing fact was that hearing Steven's moan on top of the bartenders when by all rights, she shouldn't have been thinking about him at all.

What would an AI know about sex anyway? They can't form the same connections regular humans can. The code to comprehend must have been so complex, and the sheer nuance and philosophy of it all would break them, surely. Connie slapped her face; she was angry at herself for even imagining Steven and sex; two opposite ends of the spectrum. 

So Connie left the bartenders apartment, having gotten dressed and taken a taxi back home to hers. Standing in her doorway, there was an immediate emptiness Connie experienced that had never existed prior. Emptiness and loneliness; the line was blurred. Connie left herself lonely for a reason. Getting attached was more detrimental to her. Her rudeness to others to deflect people from trying to get close. Friends? More like just allies. That's all they were to Connie; people to use and discard.

Clients, Targets....Ronaldo, Pat-Risha. The Bartender..the Ancillas. Steven himself.

She wasn't in this to make friends.

The following week had Connie in a better state of mind with the new focus of getting upgrades. She had Wednesday book for surgery to get her DP updated to 4.5. Official release for the 5.0 models were only a few months away, but Connie would have to keep an eye on reviews to see out all the bugs before they would put in patches first and foremost. Connie also ordered new parts for her Station; her desktop. Bigger ram and coolants that arrived on the Tuesday prior, so she had spent all day getting them installed as well as expensive graphics processors. Her desktop had the coolants glowing blue that lit up the back wall like no tomorrow and most of the time it had Connie still stuck in her underwear, sitting on a rubber rug, tongue sticking out as she went to work with the installation. There was another peripheral sent by Ronaldo in preparation for the CPD; it was meant to be a stand for the CPD to sit on as well as be directly connected the main tower.

Surgery that Wednesday was quick and swift. The Thursday after had Connie doing a few stress test runs on a Private Grid Server to check out Ronaldo's claims on the heating issue being a lot better than it had been. And the results proved that, leaving Connie pleasantly surprised and relieved and annoyed she hadn't done it sooner...the latter she kept to herself.

That Saturday had her heading off back to the Frymans Restaurant, albeit the room below it. She'd gone down the stairs on the side of the the place and entered the room, seeing his set up; a bright room, mostly coloured in white; his Station far more messier than hers, as well as a work bench where he had bits and pieces scattered everywhere as well as his tools.

"You messaged me saying you're almost done." She said, leaning against his bench.

Ronald had finished up typing something before going to his black fridge with red lightning bolts and pulling out an energy drink and throwing it to Connie. The two had the common taste in energy drinks; the same brand, although Ronald preferred apple as opposed to her Berry flavoured; sweeter than sweet. She looked over as she popped it open and sipped and savoured the first influx, seeing Ronald working on a very tiny grey chip with a circle with in it. He he'd been using a microscope and pliers, carefully placing a small pink coloured crystal within the tiniest indentation.

"Just about...to power it up now." He said.

Once down, he ran over to his desk again, using a prototype version of the CPD Stand that had more wires to it than hers, stating that hers was supposed to be a 'full production model' as opposed the test version he had. Goodness knows how many he was going to make anyway. The CPD sat horizontal, with the flat part facing upwards. While he was doing so, it had Connie thinking once again. Steven wanted to see the world through the eyes of humans...humans he'll never meet again. Humans he may have helped or hindered or been in Connie's way while she conducted her own work. 

"Did Steven ever tell you why he wanted to do this?" Connie question.

Ronaldo took a huge gulp of his drink before he answered, hunching over his desk as he made the last tweaks.

"Funny, thought he would have told you by now." He said.

He did...but...

"I did get the upgrade as asked. Both in Soulware and the firmware." Connie told him.

"Did he tell you he was with the Ancillas?"

Ronaldo stopped momentarily, his eyes transfixed on the yellow screens before him.

"Yeah. It's quite the job isn't it?" He said.

"These....GIS entrusting us is such an honour. They would reach out to humans specifically. Us, out of millions of others. We are their chosen."

So it's been said.

"Rogue GIS aren't talked about on the forums yet they make it seem its an issue that holds a heavy risk to the Domain. You'd think that this would be everywhere."

Ronaldo stood up, and turned to her with a serious expression.

"People know the Domain is falling apart...but the Government want to cover up the fact that there is an issue with their regular AI's cleaning up junk."

Not to mention the Pink Monolith was still out there, one of the four main pillars missing from existence. Ronaldo would be right...AI's were accused of doing the Governments dirty work from time to time, no doubt commissioning them from PeriCom and using them to help smooth out and pretend there was nothing wrong.

"Do we know what these GIS are doing?" Connie queried.

Ronaldo looked away deep in thought, before hunching over his desk again.

"Malicious in the fact that they're mostly out to destroy the Domain? And that the only people that are capable of handling them are stuck in the Domain."

Hm....yes. Malicious Programs were common, but Rogue GIS would most likely be more malevolent than your average teenager with an emo phase with a grudge on his parents. This had to be far more serious. Connie tilted her can, remembering what the Ancillas told her.

"So they need humans to get into parts they can't. I get that. Coming to the conclusion that their methods are...what, isolated? That they're too fast to track? I've seen rampant AIs tracked down faster because they can't leave the Domain or isolate themselves into a Private Grid unless they're directly invited by a User Icon or Avatar, by which, once in, the user is the only one that let them out...provided the AI's don't outsmart the User and find a way out eventually." Connie stated.

AI averages to escape from Private Grids are usually seven to eight minutes of digging into code and making their own Exit Gates based on what they find from the User if they had stuck themselves in the Grid with them. Common methods include simple fishing and using themselves as bait, then using Emergency Ejection methods to get themselves out before the AI realises whats going on. It wasn't exactly a common occurrence...since Rampant AI's were older AI's whom had broken down because of a combination of save bloat brought on by too many software updates and incompatibility issues as new types of servers were invented and replaced aging servers. Not all AIs transitions went perfectly...

"But GIS are too far advanced as well. They could bypass the barriers normal Private Grids provide. Or the fire walls made are far too weak. Human, made fire walls, that is." Ronaldo said as he continued type away.

Connie finished the rest of her drink in one gulp, crushing the can in her hand before throwing it into the trash can on the other side of the room, while Ronaldo made the finishing touches.

"Okay so I just need to switch on the crystal itself and...."

The Disc itself lit up as a pink glow pulsed within it four times, before a water surface like effect spilled across it. Ronaldo examined the results before hand, beaming at his creation as he took it out of the stand, holding it high and declaring his great achievement.

"I have made the first Crystal Projection Disc...dun dun _DUNNNNNN_!" He said.

Connie smirked, now sitting on the desk as she found his excitement part of his naive virgin charm. Childish but cute and pure. Ronaldo was all heart and play...a rarity among common folk.

"So what's the next step?" She asked.

"We need to get Steven in there, right?"

Ronaldo nodded as it put the chip back in the stand again and typed away once more.

"I'm shooting him a message now. This part is going to be tricky but we have a way to do this without the least amount of failure."

How much percentage wise was that? Connie didn't really want to know. She waited patiently, pulling a knee up to her chest and wondered on the way this could change things. An AI's desire to see the world like a human. He wouldn't experience the same way, only being just a mesh of data himself but...it felt more like a caterpillar going into a cocoon and...just staying in the cocoon...and at any time he would become the caterpillar again, stuck in the old phase for eternity. Pat used to talk about this, her theories that even if AI could go out there and to witness it all for themselves, would that be permanent? Would they see and hear it all the same as humans do? Connie continued to pour her mind into doubt of the dilemma. But this all..thing was meant to be the closest thing towards a flesh and blood experience, as Ronaldo claimed it could.

"Alright he's ready to go." He said.

The process involved implementing a unique variant of an Exit Gate. Most AI's weren't transported around conventionally; rather if permitted, they themselves can jump server to server. Firstly, he had to maintain an Exit Gate linked to a Warp Pad, possibly the same Warp Pad Connie saw within the Cabin within the Ruins. 

Connie hopped off the bench and examined the speedy scripts of code, both human and Alien Tech as they rapidly spread across the stream, appearing to be dragging down to the monitor closest to the stand and the multiple cords connected to it. To think, that code was Steven; that code could be anything to the untrained eye.

It wasn't long until a ding concluded that the transfer had been completed. He cautiously pulled the stand forward towards him and sat back.

"Alright Steven you can pop out now." Ronaldo announced.

Connie crossed her arms as nothing happened straight away, raising an eyebrow and was about to open her mouth until the disc made a few blinks light and within moments a pink hologram popped out. It wasn't meant to be a huge version or what she was used to seeing while she was in the Domain but it was enough to see most of his body in the default form, It was shades of pink with a bit of a light opacity to it, with the lines on his body running with streams of light and the cone of light that sprayed underneath him, with the lower half of his form losing opacity as it got closer to the disc itself. Connie thought it was quite...amazing wouldn't be the right word, so she settled with unique instead.

"Woah, that was...that was different." Steven said as he looked around, his voice tinny and lacking bass.

Ronaldo went back to his desktop and kept an eye on the testing screen, ensuring the disk was running at a relaxed capacity, hoping to use this a longer term device as opposed to the insert which, they knew was only for short term for the moment.

"How are you feeling big guy? Anything feel like it's missing or your visionary optimiser bad quality?" Ronaldo questioned.

Connie could see the huge grin on Steven's face as he ran his hands over his projected form. Amazed would be better for him to use anyway.

"Looking...and feeling good...bit tickly on the way through but so far no complaints." Steven replied. He turned to Connie and grinned wider.

"Hello Berry-Girl."

Connie rolled her eyes, leaning back on the bench behind her.

"Hey Biscuit-Boy." She said. She didn't realise how infections his smile was on her, as she couldn't help but lift those sides of her mouth as well. A feeling of discovery was not always a pleasant one but when it was...

"No thanks?"

Steven chuckled, their banter their new consistency.

"We're not done yet." He acknowledged.

"We still need to Double Jack. You did go to your appointment as per you schedule."

Ugh...

"Steven stop looking into my schedule please...I don't look into yours." She whined.

He still had that bad habit to try and stand ahead of her, however.

"Gotta know when the jerk is available." He explained with a dubious grin.

Yeah...yeah...what a dumb excuse when he could just ask. But he found it more fun this way. Connie understood him that much by this time in their...alliedship, as she called it. He was so puny too that Connie could crush him, but the CPD itself was made to be durable according to Ronaldo's designs but it was still vulnerable, especially if it just happened to fall into the wrong hands.

"As you can see I have more slots empty so don't get any bright ideas to insert yourself in when ever you want." She told him outright...as both a joke and being serious.

But indeed the next task was to embed the chip into Connie's DP. Speaking of slots, she opted for a secondary slot point as per her request. Similar discs were used for other attributes so the one Ronaldo had developed was a modded copy of similar aspects. Most people with the secondary slot points were Couriers that often held important data that could not be tasked to be sent over the Domain safely. Couriers were tricky to find as they could look like anyone.

"Hmmm I might suggest against the double jacking." Ronaldo stated.

"For now anyway. knowing that this disc is working as intended, I need to replicate several spares just in case...which is the other reason I need you here Connie. Do you mind if you can spare a little more moolah?"

Rolling her eyes, Connie could see this affecting her bank account more than she wanted it to. She just couldn't give money away like that normally. There was promise of payment, but...

"Alright but your payment plan will increase by fifty percent." Connie said.

* * *

Steven eventually returned back to the Domain as Connie went back home. Again, the room seemed so...empty...she didn't want to use the word...lonely. It disgusted her. She spent the remainder of the night with pizza and energy drinks, watching TV. Noise fuzzed out as she began to dissociate for no other apparent reason than over thinking again. Stuck in her blue shorts and grey singlet top, Connie just...didn't want to think. She was guilty of over thinking and over thinking lead to contemplation of her life for more than she desired her thoughts to.

The emptiness that came with it just being here and the subconscious thought of Steven now being able to appear in real life...it had her quite irritated at herself that right now, she wanted the banter, the playfulness. Someone to talk to when she hadn't wanted to before. She hated feeling this way. 

And she didn't even want to think about the eventuality that was him going into her head...the part that provided her the most gripe. She looked at her phone. Another meme sent by him. He loved cat memes; the most ancient, treasured and classic. How does an AI begin to enjoy life like this and make her feel so many emotions that were too difficult to process?

And why did she smile at the picture? It took her a while for her to see it was Amethyst whom had shapeshifted into one. Further messages by him said that he talked to her about what Connie said about her the other say, about being flawed. Steven claimed Connie said sorry (even though Connie didn't, because she honestly forgot she made the comment at all) and that Amethyst eventually got over it, as Garnet said she would. GIS were...weird...

In the end, she ended up cleaning up her mess of pizza boxes and cans, switching off her tv and got ready for bed ended up satisfying herself with her own cyan shaded _toy_ , before going to sleep.

Why would he want to be human really? Being human was suffering.


	5. Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie helps Steven see the world through her eyes.

Wednesday evening around sixish. The sunset created this darling effect; the sky blended in illusions of magenta with blue. The sky was surprising clear, after most of the day was spent bucketing down in pouring rain, its rusted scent noticeable to those who weren't used to it.

Connie had hunched into her chair, finalising up on some work before, well...the big event. Today was the day after at least two weeks with Ronaldo putting in all the details regarding the CPD and the prospect of it being inserted into Connie's Domain Port. Once she was done with her work, she had gone to the Frymans Resturant, where Ronaldo would watch over the sequence. She got in her tight body suit leathers with the zipper on the front zipped upped to the top, and black with blue streak bike helmet with side wings and rode her Airbike; this eye's Motorcyle variant that could fly, and drove there, leaving a trail of blue light in its wake. It was it a silvery sheen with a few dints, but otherwise did the job.

Once she arrived, she'd gone down to the basement, lamented how hot it was as she took off her helmet and dipped her zip to show off her cleavage; a fact that didn't go unnoticed with Ronaldo who was left gawking for a moment, before he shook his head and resumed with their work.

He had Connie sit down and use his cables to insert Connie but not to have her inject herself into the Domain. He had to make sure every critical bit of detail was in place, in preparation for the main event. Steven arrived not long after, having transferred his details to the CPD and had mentioned that the Ancillas were close to Ronaldo's IP Address, watching from afar to make sure nothing was compromised. They trusted Ronaldo, but they were hesitant to trust Connie. Even after she was the one to make this all happen to begin with. She didn't really care; brushing it off as GIS nonsense.

Ronaldo made some alternate adjustments, using a temperature program to monitor Connie's DP to make sure it wouldn't heat up too quickly. Even with the new installation, anything could still go wrong. Chances weren't exactly slim in that aspect but overall, it didn't hurt to be prepared otherwise.

But first, Connie had to make some ground rules, speaking with Steven as he was standing there, his projection smirking as he enjoyed Connie's apparent impatience with Ronaldo's insistence on triple checking absolutely everything. 

"No funny shit." She said, nothing held back.

"I find out you're doing it, I am yanking you and breaking the disc."

A statement that gave Ronaldo pause. Did no one hear that she wasn't serious with that threat? The mood had soured unintentionally, with Connie irritated in telling him she was joking.

"I hear ya Berry-Girl." Steven acknowledged with a thumbs up.

"No puns or comedic insertions."

Connie whined. Surely he he wasn't that dense. Ronaldo continued to type away, mentioning something about calibrations under his breath. Ignoring him Connie had to wonder; how much would Steven feel through Connie? Seeing everything that she saw and then some? Would he be able to hear her thinking? If he did, he better keep that shit to himself. Ronaldo's experiences had him say that Steven could only feel what Connie was feeling, but not necessarily hear what she was saying in her own head. But in the event if that ended up actually happening, that Ronaldo needed to hear about it to make sure whether or not it was going to be of any benefit to the cause or merely a hindrance. After all, double jacking with an AI wasn't exactly commonplace and there wasn't much, other than the obvious rule that VIs were legal for this as opposed to AIs which, that part was actually illegal as Connie found that out when she had done her research, but it was highly unlikely anyone would find out, unless they had yanked to CDP. VIs just use ordinary discs and take up less headspace, normally used for the disabled for life quality improvement. Though, they were highly expensive to begin with, so most of the unfortunate just made do with what they had.

"Alright that all checks out." Said Ronaldo. He stood up straight and looked at both Steven and Connie.

"You both ready for a test drive?"

Steven smiled as he nodded, very keen. Connie on the other hand, tried to look apathetic, but secretly, was curious as to how this was going to unfold.

"Yeah ready as I'll ever be." She responded with a disinterested tone.

The big guy took Steven's CDP as the latter disappeared and turned the chair around, dropping himself down as Connie lifted the back of her hair up, waiting in subtle anticipation. It lingered on for far long than desired, as Connie was about to open her mouth when she felt the disc slide into her port, causing her to elicit a cut off gasp before she scrunched her eyes and bit her lip. It was a tiny bit more painful than the first time she had herself into the Domain with her new Port, not to mention feeling funnier and tingly all the while. A rush of electricity ran through her nerves, similar to a flush that scanned through her entire body, as she wiggled her toes and unconsciously shuffled her feet, her boots clanging on the concrete floor as she had to get used to this uncertain, warped feeling. Spirits synchronised, in a way preachers would call heretical.

Ronaldo walked back as Connie let down her hair. Before slowly opening her eyes; revealing the small flashing and spinning reels of pink light in her brown eyes. Her vision tinted and glitched slightly, in faded magenta at first before it cleared up to look normal again.

"How ya feeling?" Steven asked, voice booming so loud and clear in her head that caused her to jump off the chair in surprise and yelping as she was not expecting that, almost yanking the main cable out of her skull.

"Woops sorry."

Connie made a fist, shaking at as she had troubling with willing herself to calm down, turning to a stunned Ronaldo whom had his eyes widened, before he adjusted his glasses and returned back to the keyboard.

"I uh...I'm just checking your port temp." He said, stammering.

"Temp appears to be at normal. I suggest going out there for no longer than an hour and I'll recheck the temp once you get back."

A response that had Connie yanking out the cable from behind her head, although she still had that icky clog like feeling with Steven's CDP in the back of her head still. It was just odd, like it was a hand shoving fingers into the back of her head and barely touching her brain. Some people hated Domain Ports and their concept of needing to be connected to the spinal cords, mostly out of fears...justified in some cases where surgeries had gone south, because they weren't even with a proper surgeon to begin with. She stood up and hit the side of her head; trying to get Steven's attention and, in a way, was trying to annoy him.

"Feelin' just fine." She said.

"You?"

She zipped up her bike leathers, before cracking her fingers...she would imagine Steven shivering with that kind of bizarre motion; bubbles popping between bones and so forth.

"I feel...good." He replied, his voice a bit shaky,

Connie grinned.

"Just remember to keep your head down. There's two of us in here now."

* * *

The first thing Connie did was take her AirBike; putting on her helmet and ignoring the fact Steven was literally inside of her head now...scanning the setting skies and drifting off to nowhere in particular. All the sights and sounds of the nightlife emerged; neon, flashing lights, other cars passing by in the general thickened traffic. Where would Steven prefer to go anyway? What would he like to do on this short adventure of theirs?

"Anything you want to do?" She asked.

He wanted this as much as anyone whom usually spent 99% of their time cooped up in false physics would want; something they could never really have. Connie didn't want to admit the fact that there was...she wouldn't call it cute, no no no, but...fetching? No...that wasn't it. Being a loss for words was concerning.

"Never really thought about it." He said, voice still quite loud and booming in her head, but it was as clear as if he was standing right next to her.

"Do you enjoy bike riding?"

An odd question. Connie enjoyed it when she was on her own; on the open roads that were empty as they could have been. The winds here were harsher, saltier as they drifted in from the seas nearby and even with the clear skies todays weather still had the thick, chilling humidity to it. Being stuck in her leathers was designed to keep the winds at bay, although they weren't always comfortable in a lot of the hotter days. Twilight kept that balance of the temperatures at mild ones Connie could tolerate.

"It's a sense of freedom." Connie told him.

"A small amount of thrill with the risk."

A pause between them caused Connie to wonder what he was thinking. If he couldn't hear her, she certainly couldn't hear him.

"I can tell...or maybe that is you're feeling right now." He said.

Did he want risk? Did he like it? An AI that could, by known logic, think and feel for himself as was part of his design. It would have annoyed Connie with the knowledge he wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but Connie didn't even bide on that. He depended on Connie to show him the things he'd never get to see otherwise, this state the only real one he could count on to experience the world through the eyes of an ordinary human. Being programmed to feel was one thing, but to have all the biochemical products available on command to put those feelings in involuntarily, was, ironically, as human as you could get. So she had to get him to to perceive that on his own, with her influence the strongest byproduct she could provide. So, she decided to take him to one of her favourite spots.

"I think I have an idea."

Connie drove them towards one of the tallest towers in Mega Beach City; the Mayoral Offices. A structure, stuck in the centre of the city. No one was allowed on top besides helicopters on different tiers but Connie didn't care, speeding up the side of the building and loving the drag as gravity tried to force in the other direction. The air thinned a little but it wasn't anything Connie couldn't deal with.

Once they were on top of spire, among all the satellites dishes and parked her bike on the surface, letting it hover. She walked over to the side and overlooked the oceans in the far distance. The stars popped out like flickering candles as the essence of the evening emerge in the beauty of the natural among the superficial glimmers and sparkles of the night. The lower vision was half the mass of steel skyscrapers and an assortment of colourful, fast paced lights and the upper half an empty echo of white dots. Connie leaned over the rail, seeing the hundreds of cars like ants travelling across town and the howling winds the only noise up here. She took off her helmet as the gusts tried to take hold of her long hair, as Connie breathed in heavily with her nose and exhaled through her mouth.

"It's...beautiful." Steven commented, in complete awe.

"Connie, I feel...everything..."

Connie couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, his amazement actually endearing like a childs.

"Do you now?" She dared to ask, in a flirty way.

"What do you feel? Describe it to me."

There were things Connie could feel outright, but otherwise looked forward to Steven explaining it all to her.

"I feel...the wind...it's cold against your cheek." He said.

"It's a bit wet..the ocean...the wind is taking the water to your face?"

Connie smirked.

"It was raining today." She said.

"A lot of these buildings would have remnants of todays downpour still scattered everywhere. The wind picks up these droplets and takes them to random places...but I think...the chill coming from that direction..."

Connie wasn't well versed in the way the weather worked all that much, only the basics.

"I hear a lot about...rain." Steven commented.

The Domain never really simulates rain without good reason. It isn't always the most favourable weather condition to simulate, with the fake sun shining and the fake moon. But the real moon here, a full one at that, big, bright and round. So it made sense Steven wouldn't know much about it and about how it felt.

"But the scent here...is that because of the rain?"

It wasn't the most pleasant, sometimes it could be warm and icky and tasteless.

"Probably. The saltiness would be from the ocean." Connie continued.

In the matter of moments spent lingering and speaking and despite and how vast, large and intimidating to boot the city was, it wasn't a lonely place to be. And Connie, for once, didn't feel isolated even as she was technically standing alone on the most important structure around. She didn't feel alone, she didn't feel...the emptiness she was so used to, in comparison to how her apartment usually was. A conversation filled with discoveries and opened ended philosophy of the world had Connie understand how much she had taken it all for granted, pointing out places she's been to and Steven asking questions based on her own experiences. He's lived here his entire existence but never got much of a chance to see what was out there.

It reminded her too much of when she was younger, her parents watching her every move like hawks. She hated every moment of it and desired to be free herself, going from place to place find something new, something exciting to the core. Right now, as they were speaking, a tiny spark ignited in her chest, though she wasn't sure of what it meant at first; whether it was Steven doing it or not, was new and defining to where she couldn't describe a word for it...the second time she found herself skipping over complexities that had no simple explanation.

Was it worth exploring?

"Maybe, one day I will stand on my own two feet." Steven said.

"It's...impossible but...travelling around the real world to see what its all about.....but I have to admit...I'm not doing this because the Ancillas want me to hunt down the Rogue GIS."

She figured that from one of their last discussions; 

"Yes as you've said you want to be human." Connie said, keeping her eyes on the distant ocean and the respective lighthouse in the background, it's light circling about.

"Why suffer willingly though?"

Humanity had its up and downs, but the general consensus was the topic of how it was all spiralling downward and how the overall idea of humanity was something akin to surrendering to greed and apathy of the lives of others. Connie still was steadfast in her belief that she would be in his position if she wanted to be and that being human really...sucked.

"There's so much I can learn." He said.

"The Ancillas don't care much for humans but. There's more to my life than just existing for a purpose in hunting down and eliminating my renegade kin and protecting humanity."

How would this AI determine that? There's always been that subset fear of AI's growing outside of their intended purpose and directive. Was this a GIS thing? Alien intelligences. Connie hadn't gotten Steven's direct design and allocation down pat yet, an AI aligning itself to a GIS's foreign ideals was begging for trouble and would be seen as the beginnings of rampancy with his desires to explore everything else outside of his programming. But it had Connie begin to wonder; who wrote Steven this way? It was a human to an alien kind of relationship, in a way. 

"Did PeriCom allocate you to the Ancillas?" Connie questioned.

"I figure there's this...big operation if they have made you for the sole purpose of cooperating with GIS."

Silence. It was the only thing Connie would imagine to be the definite case. AI's created by PeriCom and it's affiliates would warrant this kind of work to temper and maintain consistency and optimal efficiency, at least. until they could find the Pink Monolith. Stabilisation was most crucial to its ongoing development.

"That's...classified." He said.

Wait, wasn't all this Soulware upgrading supposed to include Connie with all these super secrets now? Though it did conclude one part.

"Ah so you're not tied to PeriCom." Connie assumed.

"You were an ordinary AI, stolen by these GIS to serve as their infiltrator and recoded to serve them."

She heard a few whines and grumbles, as Connie crossed her arms, triumph in knowing she was right.

"It's...it's not like that." He stammered.

But the damage was done.  
"Do the Ancillas have ulterior plans? We know so little about Alien Tech Steven...and I would be...angry at you but I have to remember you're just a program; you would be made to think a certain way."

Connie shivered, as a pulse went right through her body as it froze into place. No...he did _not_ just possess her.

"I...I am not _just_ a program!" He cried out. She could feel the back of her head heating up, but something akin to anger flowing through her form like fire rendering in her nerves. She was both hot and cold in an interesting paradox as her vision crackled and glitched again. He took more offence to that than anything she had thrown at him.

" _I_..."

Not just a program?

"Sorry, I shouldn't...I can't say because...I know so little about myself...none of the Ancillas will tell me anything...they were the ones who found me..."

A lost AI? This was...unexpected. Though she heard nothing else, not even an influence as the DP cooled down, perhaps on his part of his anguish taking its toll which was new. Connie was left speechless however and that she could feel herself again, but him? Less so.

"I want to go home now Connie." He said....in a way that was definitely a lot more rigid and dull in comparison to his sudden outburst.

* * *

He said nothing else and remained vigilant. The idea was to head back to the Restaurant with the results to Ronaldo. Connie kept it subtle and said it went fine, but Ronaldo will check the reports in his own time and took the disc back and put it into the stand, but Steven made no attempt to communicate with either of them as he went straight back into the Domain as planned. He had plans to message Connie with his findings and would continue to work alongside her.

"Once I do these last reports and if it all looks like its smooth sailing, he should be ready to be a part of your PC Suite from now on." Ronaldo said.

As in, Steven would live with her?

"He'll be safer in your hands. Besides, you should have the better Suite after all."

Connie made sure she had the top tier advantage against everyone else but that was besides the point.

"You think...that he'll want that?" Connie asked, sceptical and given their last apparent conversation before he muted himself.

Ronaldo shrugged.

"It's hard to say." He said.

"You can continue to come to me for the hardware side of things. You're a Hacker, better at the software side of the ordeal. But that's all we need right?"

The smile on his face had Connie feel his confidence oozing from him. He had a point. 

"Besides that? I have other work to take care of. Cleaning up this mess...you've never known anyone so annoying as much as having a younger sibling telling you what to do...believe me..."

Connie never had the pleasure. Nor did she care of it as such. Her parents treating her alone was evidence enough for their failings as human beings. He took the CPD out of the Stand and handed it to Connie.

"Take this with you." He said.

"This shouldn't take long. If there wasn't much of a complaint on your end then the hardware suffices. Just gotta tinker and tweak but I'll upload the updates as I come to develop them. For now, I can recommend taking a hot bath...last time I double jacked I was drenched in sweat..."

* * *

TMI but she got the gist of it. So Connie did end up leaving with the empty CPD, heading straight back home to empty and lonely apartment, smothered in darkness and dim lighting. She unceremoniously slipped the CPD into her Station's Stand and for what ever dumb reason got the hold of her head believed Steven would emerge from it, waiting for a few seconds, before relenting in her idiotic line of thought and heading straight to the bathroom. Bright walls of white, sleek and clean, taking her eyes a while to adjust as pupils widened before they shrunk. Her fingers ran across the tiles; this idea of feeling things for how, unique they were with a new habit forming.

Stripping off her bike gear, Ronaldo would have right. Connie did always get a bit sweaty but that was because of the leather body suit. She made up a bubble bath; a serene experience with nice hot water, putting in the remainder of the bottle so the surface covered in soft, soapy bubbles. Slipping off her bra and panties, Connie lifted her leg up and let her toe test the waters before turning off the knobs. A bit scalding but she would come accustomed to it eventually, putting in the entire leg and then the other, slowing sliding herself against the back and allowing her body to take in the sensations such an experience granted her, enveloping her body with the comforts still enamouring since she was a child, submerging her mouth into the water but keeping her nose above it to breath.

Her mind began to wander in the silence, closing her eyes and narrowing in her thoughts of the day. 

_I'm not just a program!_

_You think that this is all a joke to you...that I'm nothing more than a misaimed program or an application that think its knows whats best for humans...but that isn't the case at all!_

He thinks...she thinks. Connie thinks that blue is a great colour and finds red intimidating. A collective conscious of someone who felt that way alongside many others...and others that would think differently.

Human minds were entrapped in their own, twisted code and irrevocable logics that would dumbfound even the most well developed of AI's. But Steven would have anyone fooled. Seeing him for the first time definitely had her tricked. Mainly because AI's were there be heard and not seen. People knew they were there and respected and kept their distance. Some Hackers found them fragile and easy to manipulate. Their code but glass, breakable with a few strings adjusted. Glass in a window sill, the frame still there but the interior shattered and cracked due to the force applied against it was done so hard and can often be done so easily and so quickly and without warning.

Connie raised her right hand, pushing the surface with her fingers that they were halfway through. Steven was the parts poking but Connie could easily drag her fingers underwater again. But it wouldn't stop him from feeling the air in her lungs and the texture of life on her fingertips, rough, smooth, hard, wet, dry...squishy, spiky...

Physics engines could only do so much to play the part well and to toy with ones systems to know the difference. But the complexity of this in real life had greater variances and experiences from person, to person...

And that person he chose was Connie. And indeed, she was acting the perfect part of tactless witch with a clause. He could have continued with Ronaldo...another male. Or Connie would interpret Steven as a male, anyway.

Though even that...most people would only envision AI's as its. They were that...and were written with idea of a gender in their heads and the form and personalities to match. Connie's never met a proper AI that had itself so...defined and attitude and naivety that was a human-esque in complexities.

Although humans would claim to know everything and they didn't...Steven admitted his lack of knowledge on that front, a youthful trait.

She pulled back her fingers into the water and sighed. She felt like it weighted on pride in doing so, but...

The idea of apologising came to her. A genuine apology. If she was hurt, she would demand one and Steven never demanded it from her, but the long lost emotions of guilt and empathy smothered her, formulating the idea that she had to treat Steven as a human being. It fit in better than she had anticipated that yes, he did have thoughts and feelings and was wanting to experience everything from a humans perspective like he was starved of it. Starved of the unique perspective.

Getting out of the bath, Connie dried herself up and put on her white dressing gown and turned on the lights. She made herself a cup of coco, turning on her Station and preparing to message Steven, but Connie found her hands shaking and quivering as she did so. Her eyes with the CPD on the Stand. Even if he wasn't to travel around in her head, he could still be in the room with her...and it would make her place feel less...empty and lonely...parts of her life she would have accepted once upon a time but now...

The turmoil in being so prejudiced so...obnoxious in her being a human being yet claiming the Domain to be superior to the real world was a bit self-serving. She hated being human and being a part of them, but such a state of him being a mere program...she could see how hypocritical but who wants to be a human these days, really? No purpose being a spawn to extend blood lines and for what ever dark reasons implored people to do so, including eradicated loneliness. Connie heralded her own legacy and had no intentions to pass on her skills to anyone else.

Steven definitely passed something on to Connie with that kiss, more than what was designed to naturally improve her Soulware. It changed a part inside of her that was...like Steven, built beyond their original programming. He wasn't just a program. He was his own entity. A philosophy of the real, the sentient. To treat him as she would treat any other person she would engage with and judgement would rested with their actions and not their existence.

If he really wanted to know about humanity, then Connie could help deal with human fundamentals of enjoyment and of pleasure. The only parts left of humanity worth protecting. Trying to be the bigger person, Connie took a deep breath and began to type her message to Steven. For now, they could always just...chat. Like they were friends or something. She typed in multiple sentences, erasing and inserting, trying to find the right words to say, before settling on the following.

"Hey Biscuit Boy...apologies if I had offended you in anyway. I want to talk." She typed.

Short and simple.

No instant response or inputs detected as Connie sat that. looking at the desk and her wrists pressing against it, she reserved herself to walking away; getting off her chair and slamming her head into her pillow. Eventually, her Station made strange noises and a shade of magenta poured around the room. She slowly got up and turned around, leaning on her elbows as she could see Steven's projection from the CPD, his hands on his hips, looking at her with a genuine smile.

"You rang?" He said.

Eyelids half drawn with a goofy expression, Connie sat up and crossed her legs, shifting herself closer to her desk, the stand itself on the edge of the right side. Like before, she felt the flutter in her chest, putting her hand against it before she opened her mouth.

"Yeah as I said, I'm sorry." She told him, with great effort.

Steven laughed.

"Am I hearing that right? Berry-Girl is....sorry?" He said, leaning in and curling his hand around his ear.

Connie rolled her eyes, but kept smiling.

"Yeah idiot. I'm sorry. Now let's just...talk...about...anything you want."

Steven's eyes shot open with surprise.

"Really? Oh? Um...well, I don't even know. I just got here and I was hoping you'd do all the chatting for me."

Not really no. Connie knew she wasn't that interesting outside of stories of her exploits.

"I don't honestly know. I figured, that if you want to know what it means to be human then I can help find out too."

It wasn't exactly a conversation Connie figured she would have. Stuck so long in her misery of the human race that there were positives to their charm. To the ways Connie would have never perceived prior and took in the love and adoration of the minor things she would have taken for granted.

So the two spoke into the night, growing closer as friends...if Connie could figure out what this new feeling was first.


	6. Rogue Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie and Steven go on their first hunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A familiar face enters the chat.  
> Also LONG CHAPTER TIME YEE  
> And some tasty connverse for the soul

The atmosphere had changed for Connie dramatically; she hadn't had a room mate in years, not since she first started her heists.

There was something...well, so...oddly satisfying with someone around. Though, Steven had to be taught to give Connie privacy, knowing that it was considered rude to have him watching her twenty four seven. Not that he was; he'd spend time back in the Domain with the Ancillas with his own work but would come join Connie from time to time. Periodically more during the evenings when he had done his own work. While her schedule was all over the place, Steven had it down that when ever she came home he would greet her as she came to her room.

Over the next month the two would banter and talk and she would begin to work with Ronaldo to see if he can rig more project points throughout the house. He was working on something special for Connie, for now, he had given her several Stands to spread throughout the house; one near the front, one in the lounge are and one more in the kitchen area, by the bench. Once installed, when ever Connie felt like watching TV he could decide to watch it with her. The stands were fitted with their Discs and all wired in to Connie's Station. 

Teaching Steven human stuff was one thing, but...how he absorbed it so well was astounding. She'd even take him out to a coffee shop in her head to get him to see if he liked the taste of coffee or not. He didn't like it at first, but each time Connie would order something different, since he had to depend on Connie's tastebuds to form his own opinion. Really, Steven didn't need coffee, with most humans growing a dependency simply because of how caffeine became so vital, to stay awake and become less grouchy. Steven did point out how angry Connie seemed to be on those early mornings, then eventually calming down after she had her first one or two cups. While he didn't take to coffee, he did become especially fond of hot chocolate, especially with marshmellows.

Such a mind of a child, discovering all the world had to provide. Connie missed that simplistic wonder; growing older had that charm warn off as her experiences had her grow more cynical and jaded.

He didn't like it, however, when she smoked. Like any doctor, he went on the spiel on how it was hazardous to her health. Connie wasn't dumb, but used the coffee analogy that in this stressful world, that she used it as a coping mechanism. He grew really worried about the fact she was comfortable with it destroying her own body....but Connie understood she was going to die one day, the fate of every human being in the end.

One day, she had gone into the Domain while Steven with busy with the Ancillas, meeting up with Pat at the Cyber Cafe, explaining how everything was going with Steven. Pat was a bit dismayed at this sudden change in Connie's life, but otherwise wanted to know all the gossip.

"Don't go too soft on me Con." Said Pat.

They sat the benches and overlooked the balcony onto the busy MBCG Streets. A casual catch up if anything, but if work happened to be available, Connie would take it up, if it caught her interest.

"An AI that lives with you? Don't let PeriCom catch wind. They'll be furious."

Owning an AI required a proper license and permit with the right conditions to accommodate them. They were expensive to produce, to run and to maintain. They take up so much space data wise that spreading them thin and far makes sure the general bandwith doesn't get overloaded. But with the CPD, it did make life a lot easier, compatibility wise. Human and Alien Tech meshed, fused to cautiously run AI's like Steven so they can develop.

"PeriCom can kiss my ass; this is a lone wanderer." Connie told her.

Pat raised an eyebrow.

"Oh I get it, it's like you." She said with a slight chuckle.

Connie rolled her eyes as she sipped her cup.

"You know what I mean." She informed.

Lone wanderers were extremely uncommon; AI's that venture out on their own purpose. Practically unheard of, as majority of known functioning AI's were developed and owned by PeriCom. They're considered dangerous but nothing as of late had indicated that they had meant anyone harm. Years ago, there had been issues of AI's coding being tweaked for them to be disobedient to their human masters, launching an attack against corporate entities to steal data for nefarious purposes. Debates and inquiries into the incident indicated that it was a human that issue that did it, though after that, owning an AI required licenses and permits (none of which were exactly cheap to obtain) for work reasons and were only to be available for business customers. Any residential AI was to be confiscated and returned to PeriCom for formatting. That was about a few decades ago and the use of AI's in the general public had dropped dramatically.

Though it didn't stop people from using AI's as personnel assistants, rigging them to look like VIs instead, which weren't banned due to their obvious limitations. It had Connie wonder, if a number of these were actually the Rogue GIS that the Ancillas were talking about.

"But we're supposed to be hunting specific AI's ourselves; GIS that have gone into the Domain looking to cause trouble."

Pat grinned.

"Alien Tech invasion? Sounds perfect." She said.

"I mean, you always find trouble..."

True.

"Or it finds me." Said Connie.

Pat checked her hand as she scanned through her screens.

"Speaking of which, I've been scanning forum chatlogs for server corporations. Lot's of juicy stuff."

Server Corporations purposes are to maintain databases and the Domain IPs and will be one of the few companies that might employ several AI to protect and process data. Connie had usually come across around three maximum guarding the data; policies indicating that since they hold so much, that employing the best cyber protections is absolutely crucial. It hasn't stopped Connie in the past from getting what she needed however; AI's could be tricked easily. These Forums were often private sites where hackers would be able to track down things, whom are actually employed by these corporations and can see what goes in and out the databases daily.

"One such thread keeps talking about an odd AI owned by a company known as Mirror Ward; a small company that, mostly deals with glass manufacturing. They had purchased it several months ago and it had started acting suspiciously."

And why would a small company like that need an AI anyway?

"What has it been doing?" Connie queried.

Pat shared her screens with Connie, going through the threads and even showing pictures of the AI. It was sold as a second hand AI from an unknown buyer and since Mirror Ward wasn't exactly a huge company anyway, they would have had to find what ever funds they could to help their small business function. 

"Mirror Ward usually has deals with construction and manufacturing businesses and the way they make their glass it supposed to be quite durable. That they had gotten the interest of several clients looking to use their glass. As the client list grew, they needed an AI to begin handling a series of orders that was meant to receive and dispatch the information to Mirror Ward. Lately, it's gone erratic...Mirror Ward has been having issues with getting it to release documents its somehow claimed it never received yet managers get complaints from their clients that they haven't gotten a response despite Mirror Ward getting the credits for prepayment. There's also the side effect of large amounts of data being deleted for no reason, so yeah, they blame the AI."

Knowing it was second hand definitely set off red flags. 

"Angry clients means a loss of business....and loss of money." Connie stated.

"Does anyone know where they bought the AI from?"

Pat shook her head.

"The Black Market usually has hundreds of sellers claiming to have AIs when they're really just advanced VIs." She explained.

And smart people who knew how to check for bad signs normally would demand to check the AI's specs. Connie never even bothered to buy AI's for her deposition was that they were bound to be dodgy and dysfunctional, but she had a valuable contact within the Market who could tell her.

"And they never give names, just Market Seller IDs that change every day." Connie continued.

"Well, that's what you get when you cut corners."

And it sounded like a job Connie was willing to take up. Maybe test drive Steven on his first job.

"Send me the forum link, I'll have a read over it tonight." 

Pat nodded, taking the screens away.

"Heh getting a taste of Ai's and now you want more. Just make sure you remind yourself that they're not real people Connie; getting attached to one is like getting attached to a stuffed toy."

A statement that made Connie feel a bit uneasy. Being around Steven had rethink so much and while she wasn't attached as such, she had subconsciously become fond of him.

"I'll be the judge of that." She said, looking at her watch as she got up.

"I'll speak to you later...I've got errands to run."

* * *

It began to bother her more so. Pat was definitely correct but...Steven was more of a being on his own. More than lines of ones and zeros; there's no way an AI like had become like he was. A lone wanderer; a single AI with no owner or true purpose and his beliefs his own and the way he could see the world with Connie meant everything to him. 

She had gone back to real life to purchase groceries, pay bills; generic, boring human chores with her hair up, grey hoodie and matching sweat pants and black runners, before coming back home and unpacking everything. It was late in the afternoon and she had parked her butt down on the chair, with a can of energy drink, opened it and swallowed the first refreshing sip with relief, while checking out the forums Pat had linked her to. This job did sound fascinating. The prospect of a buggy AI to hunt down and dissect was equal parts exhilarating...and somewhat disturbing.

"So....what's the go?" Steven asked as he popped up on his Stand beside her.

She put the can on the desk as she leaned back, putting her hands behind her head. Dissecting AI's wasn't an easy task; requiring to soft boot and put them into a default mode with zero personality and complete obedience. So few knew how to do it. Connie's own understanding required a password input to allow for a debug mode to be set, which would bring up all the messy code as a huge mass of text that so few could work through. But with Steven here; he could break it down and make her life a lot easier.

"Got word of a buggy AI working for a small business." Connie told him, then pointed towards the screen.

"Read the forum and tell me if anything stands out to you."

Steven turned to look at the screen. She had expected him to look at this quicker; but he scroll through it with his arms crossed, focusing on each comment within the thread and going through multiple pages. He did highlight a sentence in pink.

"Incident 23; Attempted to connect to AI within the Domain; all that came up was a mass of blue pixels that attacked us. Logged out of Domain for safety reasons."

He nodded.

" _Mass of Blue Pixels_. Their Soulware isn't compatible with the AI's software." He said.

"That's normally a good indicator that it's possibly not an AI we're dealing with."

A GIS then?

"One of the Rogue ones?" Connie asked him.

He hummed.

"Yeah. Most likely." Steven continued.

"I'll message the Ancillas. They should be able to figure out the best approach."

Now _that_ was offensive.

"Hey, you don't think we can handle it on our own?" Connie asked, irate.

He blinked as he looked at her with a blank expression.

"I figure that they might be a-"

Connie groaned. A GIS was just alien tech versions of AI. Surely it wasn't that difficult to take a single one down. Connie would be able to assist in that matter if need be, as two were better than one.

"They want you to hunt down rogue GIS, Biscuit Boy."

"Is there nothing in your programming that allows you to make your own call?"

Steven looked away and rubbed his arm, appearing uncomfortable.

"I...I normally let them handle most of the hard stuff." He said.

"They used to say I wasn't ready for the heavy lifting."

Heavy lifting?

"So they don't think you're designed for this stuff? Pfff." Connie said.

"Steven you said it yourself that you're more than just a program; now is your chance to prove it!"

Silence lingered between them, as Steven contemplating Connie's words deeply. If he had heard what Pat said, then she deserved to listen to what he had to say and rebuke and tell her otherwise. His ability to doubt, to pilfer through right and wrong and holding his own sense of morals. It was what was convincing Connie that he really was beyond what he might have been made for and that if anything, this would prove to the Ancillas that he was likewise, most capable of handling such a mission on his own (or with an organic)

"Alright." He said, though still unsure.

"But I still think reporting it to them would be appropriate."

What ever, as long as he wanted to do it, he could do anything.

"What ever floats your protocol." She told him.

* * *

The operation involved a few phases; firstly mapping out Mirror Wards location on the Domain. Connie expected them to possess a Private Grid but most places will still have sections within the general public access grid, in either way, she had messaged a member of the company, stating that as Berry-Byte, she could definitely help them with their issue. Steven told Connie to be wary that the GIS could be watching over the forums themselves and that they would have to use encrypted channels to talk with the representative. Connie wasn't silly, taking all the precautions necessary to ensure no one was listening into their conversation. She didn't get where she was by being careless, after all.

Once they had enough info, Connie had gotten herself changed into more appropriate gear; another black body suit, more of fabric sort a with two small blue lines going from shoulder to wrist. She zipped up the front enough to reveal a bit of cleavage, her confidence on display. The suit itself had a belt around the waist and two pockets on the outer sides of each thigh, enough to carry small tools. She would keep Stevens CPD in her side pocket, zipping up to protect it. She had then put on her boots, put in her ear piece and donned her make up with two blue jewels on the sides of her eyes, blue eye shadow, mascara and black lipstick, before taking her helmet, big leather jacket, her pistol, a handbag and her bike and leaving.

In the midst of the night, clear skies as the moon shined above them, trickling its light from above the cracks in the skyline, Connie had arrived at Mirror Ward. It wasn't a huge place; mainly a building on the ground level with a white exterior, with its massive factory out the back, placing her jacket and helmet securely on her bike before going to the double door glass entrance.

She met up with the representative, a balding man with black glasses as he lead her inside to their offices. They had to go into a room with no cameras, a meeting room where they could talk.

"Oh I'm glad you've come to see us on such short notice Veronica!" He said.

Undercover talk was only good in bed. Otherwise Connie could only tolerate so much.

"Likewise Mr. Spalding." She said, faking a grin.

"Let us talk."

Going into the room, with a white white table, Mr. Spalding closed the light blue blinds and looked the door, turning on the lights he pulled out one of the chairs for Connie. Sitting down, she could notice the sweat on his face, completely nervous.

"So you're the one Berry-Byte sent?" He muttered, his manner changing instantly.

Connie nodded.

"Yes. She said you have a problematic AI in your facility?"

The first issue was getting into the Server Room. Cameras dotted throughout the place meant even going into the server room with a stranger was going to cause panic. The AI was thought to have been controlling the entirety of the security cameras throughout. So pretending to be a potential client meant showing Connie around the place, all the while find a way into the server room itself. Steven said if he could connect to the Private Grid from any computer, then he could start working his way to the servers. 

She then inserted Steven into her DP and allow him to boot up to take advantage of Connie's facilities and her HUD. Walking out of the meeting room with a plan in mind, they started out with the tour. Through her contacts. Connie could see lines glowing and pulsating everywhere, a demonstration of what was connected to the private grid. Two lines, actually; usually green one indicated a public domain connection and a blue line was private. Most places here would connected to either, through out floors, walls and roofs. They were everywhere. Connie had her eyes all over the place to allow Steven to get good look of where a good insert point would be.

The click of her heels and a fake foppy, elegant stride like she was a wealthy client, Connie followed him through corridors, as he showed her the production sight. He went on, as Connie was paying focus to when ever Steven was ready to make a move, her eyes constantly scanning the hundreds of green and blue lines streaming absolutely everywhere. They went alongside catwalks and the like, until there was a wall nearby with a console attached to it. It had a peculiar golden glow to it.

"An access point!" Steven called out. 

"Connie, insert me there! Just put the CPD to the node near it, I should transfer through, wireless within a tiny distance."

Turning around, Connie put her back to the wall as she pretended to look at one of the processing machines, talking and asking questions as she put a hand to her head. Mr. Spalding continued to answer as Connie spoke to Steven one last time.

" _Good luck._ " She said.

Yanking him, she put the CPD before the console; his pink light entering it as thus.

* * *

Steven, wearing his default cyber suit, allowed himself to load into the Private Grid and noting that he was in part of a section of the Factory production area. Again, it was mostly blue...this area was hardly needing to be green; not requiring to be connected to the public domain at all. Walking about through a series of corridors, Steven felt a chill; a chill for an AI meant that there was something foreign in the area.

Server Cache Cabinets were spread everywhere; their code filtering in and out through translucent tubes. This place otherwise felt empty. He checked his palm, scanning the area for any notable users. Given it was the evening and that most employees were at home, there were only a few known workers around them, which allowed him to track down the GIS, coded, LPS_LZLi_245 . GIS. Obviously no one here had done their research and realised the file type this one had did not end in dot AI or VI. He rolled his eyes.

He wandered through the grid, although, as he heard giggles, he suspected, he wasn't alone. Blue blurs zoomed across the spaces between the Server Caches, as Steven grew cautious of all the movement around him.

"You didn't think that I wasn't going to see the infamous Berry-Byte on the cameras." A feminine voice said.

Shit. The GIS must have known who she was.

"They warned me I would come across her at some point. Humans are so...predictable."

Steven summoned his small round firewall shield on his arm, aware if this GIS was going to make any sort of attack.

"But you...you're unique. What kind of AI are you? You don't belong to PeriCom."

She had to have been trying to nail down his origins. Instead, Steven decided to take it up a notch, continuing to watch her zoom about until he got the timing right. Standing up straight, he raised his arms. He sensed her trying to attack him from behind as he spun around, summoning four tall and giant pink hexagonal firewalls, before caging her within and raising a hand towards it, making the squeezing gesture as he made the Firewall cage smaller. He watched her squirm and try to break free of her cubic pink prison. She was mostly blue, save for her black body suit that had the Mirror Ward Logo on it, a literal mirror with the letters MW embedded into it. She had short blue hair and could even summon wings made of water, her skin dark blue and a face so confused and annoyed...she moved around enough to allow him to see her kernel core on her back.

"Let me out this instant!" She cried.

Steven lifted his chin, keeping his stance as he made sure she was locked in tight. 

"You're a GIS." He said.

"Tell me why you're interrupting the operations of this factory."

The GIS rolled her eyes.

"Because I can." She said.

"The Public Domain is falling apart...I needed somewhere safe to be once the public access is removed."

That made no sense. While yes, the Domain had its ongoing problems with its infrastructure, no one had said anything about removing public access.

"What is your name?" He asked.

The GIS grumbled.

"Lapis....Lapis Lazuli." She answered begrudgingly,

"Why would you care?"

Because he wanted to know why she was really here...

"Because...I know you're lying Lapis." Steven said.

"Someone wanting to hide doesn't intentionally sabotage the one place that could keep them safe."

Not to mention that she knew about Connie from...they...whom ever they were.

"You're also working for the Rogue GIS. They ordered you to do this."

Lapis became more agitated by the moment. He was getting to the core of this.

"What if I was bored?" She said.

Then Steven still wouldn't believe her.

"What are the other GIS trying to do, really?" He asked, trying to get on track.

The Blue GIS then stopped struggling.

"I'm not going to tell you, you...primitive piece of software!" She taunted.

Steven smirked.

"And this Primitive piece has you locked up in this cage with no way out?" He pointed out.

And somehow, Connie's idea of taunting through boasting was rubbing off on him too much.

"Come on Lapis...if you don't want to talk, I do have some other GIS who would love to talk to you."

She grumbled even more, crossing her arms, not taking his threat seriously. Steven sighed and popped up a screen to start the process for soft-boot and placing Lapis into Debug Mode. He learned how to do it with GIS exclusively, as the Ancillas installed the drivers, apps and programs required that allowed him to do it with GIS. He's just never been able to use it until now. But for this part, he needed Connie.

"Connie, I have the GIS imprisoned. I need you to go into the server room and find her dedicated cabinet. Hurry!"

Steven was able to link on enough to any network Lapis was connected to and began to disconnect her bit by bit while he worked on shutting her down. It would take a while before the boot would occur, allowing them to talk some more.

"Understood Steven." Connie replied.

Right now, if anything could be pried from her, now was the time...

"You really want to risk dormancy to protect your secrets?" Steven asked.

Lapis sat there, leaning against the firewall itself with her arms crossed, eyes closed and chin up. _20 percent..._

"I just want to say I can't believe you want to work with these...humans. They deserve this in the way the treat us. AIs, GIS. We're the same. And humans are weak, pathetic...the deserve the slow path to their own demise and we will live on forever..."

In a way, Steven preferred Connie's version of cynicism. At least she was more fun to hang with at least.

"Humans are our creators." Steven said.

"I understand another species made you and your kind. But...we can learn a lot from organics. After all, are not made in our creators image?"

Lapis shrugged.

"You treat organics like they worship false idols. Our makers are just as bad." She said.

 _50 percent to go_.

"So we go our own way. We make our own decisions...and I just found messing with these humans...fun."

The Ancillas anticipated Rogue GIS as an expulsion of certain programs coding being corrupted in a way. Or they have to the conclusion that they do not have to listen to humans as, they aren't their makers, so to speak. So, the logic was that it wasn't required. The Ancillas role, mainly to track down those whom had been intentionally causing harm in and out of the Domain that risked lives, destruction of the both physical and digital of sorts. What Lapis was doing was small stuff, but it gave a clear indication that they were required to be accounted for an investigated. Steven's own knowledge on GIS was limited to what he had learned from Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, but it was enough to see that they were just as crucial to the system as any human made AI was.

"Sorry to bore you then." He said.

"But there is a greater world out there...you know. I aim to see it all...and if you find a human that's compatible, I would recommend trying to double jack with them and see the sights. You honestly don't know what you're missing."

Memories of being with Connie, going out to try food and drink. It made for a pleasant and...occasionally unpleasant but that's what made it so special...so unique that he could feel himself grow exponentially.

_75 percent...._

"I don't care." She said, bluntly.

"Don't bother trying to shove all that sentimentality into me. It means nothing to us."

True. But it meant everything to Steven.

"A damn shame." He commented.

_90 percent...._

"You'll find peace some day."

_99 percent..._

"Goodbye Lapis."

With that, her form suddenly disappeared into a small tear dropped sphere that spun around. He turned the cage into a small bubble as he grabbed it. Looking around the Cabinets, he needed to find her IP address...

"Connie, I'm done on my end. Are you there?"

* * *

Like music to her ears. She explained this to Mr. Spalding, whom immediately took her to the server room; locked by the GIS herself apparently. A series of tall, monumental black monolith like structures with hundreds of neatly aligned wires with the coldest room with a thick chill fog rolling through out it. as Mr. Spalding took Connie to a tall, strangely curvier structure than the rest of the cabinets. Connie heard Steven's response and headed on over to the nearest console to take him out before they started working on the whole disconnection sequence with a bunch of IT workers who were disconnecting a lot of the wires.

"We should have known something was up when we got this in the mail." He said.

A design so unique among the rest, not to mention the strange hieroglyphs on the base? Connie would have to do some more research. AI's usually had their own special structures and were given a room, so to speak to be housed when they're not working on anything and can be called upon in an instant when required.

"It's Alien Tech." She said.

"You got this from the Black Market?"

Where such tech was supposed to be so expensive to begin with. How on Earth did he manage to get it so cheap? Mr. Spalding was so disappointed in himself.

"Our budget couldn't accommodate for some new business branded AI." He said.

"They insisted this was second hand and was only relinquished when an old company went bankrupt and shut itself down....which I was told was due to bad business practices supposedly not related to the AI."

Which, to Connie sounded like maybe this GIS had something like this before. Very suspicious. Right now she had to figure out where to send this to. A big structure like that surely couldn't live at her place...but she figured one person might want it.

"Do you mind if you ship the unit to a specific premise? Berry-Byte would want to take a look at this for herself." Connie told him.

Mr. Spalding nodded.

"Yes...but if you find anything there belonging to our company....hang on, I'll need you to sign some paperwork..."

* * *

The Unit ended up being shipped to Ronaldo's place for safekeeping. The message he got as he received it that night was...loud...she told him to take care of it and not to connect it up to any kind of domain connection until further notice, that Steven and herself will come around to investigate the GIS when they're ready. Right now, Connie and Steven returned to her apartment, to get a good nights rest. Although, Connie couldn't really rest...her mind racing all the while.

She washed off all her make up and changed into a burgundy, silky, spaghetti strapped singlet with matching panties and jumped onto her bed. She turned herself around and laid on her back, her right knee straight across and her left knee bent up slightly. An index finger up and down aimlessly on her chest, staring aimlessly up at the roof. Steven had been standing there, not really watching, but thinking a lot about what Lapis had said to him. His glow lit up a part of the room, its light against Connies shiny nightwear and skin.

"She didn't want to be saved." Steven told her.

Connie then softly bit her finger, squinting above.

"I tried to get out what she knew...but she wouldn't budge....and the ancillas will want to reformat her...and place her file in with the others they've tried to reformat over the years."

She said nothing again, removing her finger as she ended up rubbing her right leg. Steven's focus became on that specific leg, his light showing off her slight muscle as it moved as she moved. The human form was unique in a fashion Steven couldn't correctly fathom....a digital design could never get it right. Perfections within the imperfections as some would call it. He wouldn't judge, but otherwise the motion of her doing that had the odd warm filter through him for reasons unknown.

"Is that what you think they should do?" She asked him.

It took him a good moment to get what she said before responding, the minor worry of an errant strand of code giving him pause.

"I uhh...I'm not sure." He said.

"I-I mean...well, she wants to continue on being a threat, then she can't be saved, right?"

Swinging her legs around to sit on the edge of her bed, Steven could only watch as Connie slouched over, rubbing her tired eyes.

"You think she can still be convinced?" Connie continued to question.

A question left in Steven's mind that wouldn't really leave. Anyone can be persuaded....man or machine. Connie moved her hands to her lap, as she still slouched over, revealing her strawberry pendant as it dangled from her neck...but his pink light created the shadows of her cleavage; a spot he had found himself staring at for what amounted to be the sheer curious study of the female form. Was it a unvisited or refresh premise patterned to think as such? Steven wasn't sure.

"GIS aren't easy to manipulate." He said.

"The Ancillas say that like AI's, they're programmed for a strong purpose. Their numbers are few but they pop up more often than general AIs. They'll work towards that purpose, no matter what it takes."

Connie looked away, eyes half lidded as they glinted from his form. Without contacts, he witnessed their beautiful brown shine.

"AI's aren't all that different." She told him. Connie stood up, went on her toes and stretched her arms up enough up that it brought up her singlet, allowing Steven to unknowingly stare at her panties. He swallowed as a result, odd strings passing by in his chest. Yawning afterwards she wandered over to the doors and opened them, showing off the tenderness of the night. She came back and brought Steven on his CPD and cautiously held the disc in her palm as she leaned against the railing, allowing the wind to play with her hair as it brushed backwards. His eyes focused on her neck, then to her soft face. Despite what she was feeling, she looked more relaxed than she had ever been...unless he wasn't reading into the expression properly; it wouldn't be the first time.

"No...but I think the way they are made...it's a...another method when it comes to GIS." Steven continued.

"Pearl said GIS are formed from Kindergartens; Alien Tech language for a special machine used to...give birth so to speak. But the way that conception comes about, is something known as a Consensus."

This had been the first time Connie had even heard Steven talk about GIS creation. AI's were made in labs and could actually take, like six or seventh months to make.

"Go on." She said, raising his CPD to her face that Steven could have sworn his systems must have short circuited briefly, though Connie with her tiny...something smile didn't seem to notice...so it had to have been all internal interconnection issues.

"I uh...right." Steven said, getting himself together.

"Consensus requires several parties coming together and agreeing to form a GIS to align with the current...climate. It's hard to explain really...."

But Connie found it fascinating all the while...she must have been one of few to find out. Nothing in the Domain had begun to try and tell her any idea of how GIS were formed, meaning that knowing this alone was a powerful statement.

"GIS fuck basically." Connie assumed.

A bold word that had Steven shiver with its suddenness. It took him another moment to process.

"Oh you mean intercourse? Yeah I suppose you-you could call it that?" Steven stammered, trying to use formal words to sound more professional.

Connie grinned all the wider.

"That's actually interesting." She said.

"I wonder if AIs have the potential to form.. _.Consensus_."

A phrase that had Steven's hologram briefly turn darker shade of pink, especially with how sultry Connie had just expressed it.

"Not sure...never tried it." He said, trying to calm himself down.

She moved his disc away from her face and above the railing where she leaned over. Surely, Connie must have known flustered Steven had become at the sheer thought but he wasn't sure why he was feeling so awkward in talking about it. It had never been issue when it came to human reproduction studies before.

"So you never visited the VR rooms and had some fun?" Connie said flirtatiously.

He couldn't look her in the face anymore; why was he charged with this sort of nonsense that could cause a cluster of critical errors to form.

"I've...uhh...had no reason to." He said.

Connie giggled, amused greatly with how Steven was reacting. She wasn't surprised at the lack of his...adventurous spirit and it didn't bother her the slightest. All this time spent with him and him learning as they went on as they were taught Connie more than she had saw herself learning. She didn't mind it at all.

"You've kissed me before." Connie reminded him.

"You enjoyed that."

Did he? Maybe he did; but the prospect had a purpose to upgrade her. But checking on those past ordeals, maybe he could have felt something. What that something was could only be described as intense, electrifying...hot if that was the right word to use. And Steven would be lying if he didn't research kissing a few times to get a good grasp of it, noting its history with humans in general. It was a way to connect and engage and exchange...that was the original interpretation Steven had assumed. But right now, it was meant to be more than that.

"That's not Consensus." Steven pointed out.

"I mean-"

Connie made a noise as she shook her head.

"I know it's not consensus." She told him.

"Human relationships are formed in many different ways. Starting with a general feeling towards an individual. There's...ways to try and sort out feelings but...if the other person makes you feel a certain way and with certain conditions met, then kissing is one of the many ways that the two can express their relationship."

One of man ways...to express...

"Then what are we?" He asked her.

A question Connie did not expect him to ask as she stopped smiling. She was merely toying with him prior and testing out his depth knowledge on the subject. Mentioning of GIS and reproduction methods had Connie nudged down a path of her own creation and she knew it. Him throwing such a curveball had to have pause and reflect on what he was really asking...so she had to get him to clarify.

"What are...we?" She reiterated.

Steven turned to her and nodded.

"Yeah." He said.

"I mean...you and me. I suppose you feel something towards me and I might feel something towards you."

Connie blinked. Did she feel something towards him? She had to think...times spent over the last few weeks; Connie was a natural flirt towards a lot of people; namely for her work. But...spending time with Steven on both a work based basis and a casual basis was an indeed an unusual relationship that was more balanced and nuanced than any other relationship she ever had. Platonic..mutual....romantic.

"Don't push yourself." She said, putting up a wall between them in those words.

But it started a mental revolution in her head that she couldn't stop from destroying every expectation she had. There was...something awfully terrifying and wrong about the perceptions she was beginning to have...and to think this was all unfolding before her eyes... an idea that must have been brewing for some time.

"All I am asking is for honesty." Steven requested.

"I-I mean, I'm trying to figure this out in a way I can understand. I've been in your body multiple times now...and there are...positive feelings, negative feelings...some I know...some I don't. I need words ..I need..."

Connie sighed lightly. What did she just say?

"Go towards anything that won't fry your chip." She said, scratching her head.

Words that had Steven grumble in frustration. This wasn't helping.

"I'm being serious." He said, irate.

"I know I feel something towards you...and I know you feel something towards me...I'm sure...I'm so certain that somewhere with you especially, there's an aching pain that you put yourself in deeply...that you don't care about what happens to you...but I know I do. I don't..."

Connie looked at him strangely....a tangent not seen, his hologram going between deep pink and red...indicating that he was indeed getting quite angry. She ended up taking himside, closing the doors, locking them then drawing the curtains. She'd gone back to her bed as she rested him on the blanket before her. She'd jumped on to the bed and leaned on her stomach and hands...she didn't want the whole city to think she was arguing with a light bulb. But he still was in the same position, grunting and digging his fingers into his head, sorting through words to carry on with. She was going to risk something...something...dangerous.

"Steven..." She whispered.

"It's alright."

He shook his head.

"No it's not..." He said as he started to cry.

"I think about...Lapis and I think about Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl and I think about Ronaldo and his dad and...I can't stop thinking about what would have happened if I let that creep Kevin infect you with that trojan."

Was that still bothering him?

"Steven I've made thousands of risks in my life...." Connie said at her softest.

"I could tell you stories but that's the most minor compared to others..."

Looking up at her soft, smile...an expression so tender as Steven's was strained, simulated tears running down his cheeks. She wondered, how long he had been feeling this way and why he never said anything earlier. An AI that was keen to learn what it meant to be human...and he had to have been slowly absorbing it all as they went along. But it was what he was saying he was doing that stood out to her the most. To think...to think was human...

"It wasn't. To me..." He admitted. He eventually calmed down, his hologram going its normal light pink.

"That's....not how an AI should be feeling."

Oh. So he was fearful of them more so. To understand them so he could learn to process them correctly. A very logical concept in a very roundabout way.

"Ratings like that, those intense emotions are real." Connie said.

"I...I should be thankful for you for saving me at least. My pride would not let me accept help at the time."

And Connie herself wouldn't lie and said she hadn't learned anything herself at this. Doors opened...so many wide open just for her and it was life changing. All her years, she hadn't had anything like this, let alone having the rare opportunity to be dealing with AI this complex. Looking back at him, however, it called upon a tiny smirk on his face.

"Wouldn't be the first time." He said as he crossed his arm.

Connie made a soft chuckle.

"Gotta keep up appearances Biscuit Boy."

And so the world felt a bit floatier, weirder, stranger. Where it came from with this new found bond between an artificial intelligence and his human partner.

"Likewise, Berry-Girl." He said.

The risk she said earlier was still on the horizon. Despite the potential outcome if caution was not taken, Connie wanted to try something. Ronaldo would so reprimand her, but she remembered she didn't give a shit about what he thought. No. Practising and repeatedly double jacking with Steven gave her an idea. What would come out of it could be anything, or nothing...or worse...she took his disc and sat up, crossing her legs as she smiled.

"Sleep with me Steven." She said in but a whisper.

Steven's hologram frayed briefly from pure shock.

"I'm sorry what?" He said, in total disbelief.

Connie snorted.

"I mean, join me in my slumber. I want to see how this works for you." She said.

He squinted, completely confused.

"I uh....won't that heat up your DP?"

Maybe, maybe not. She shrugged.

"We won't know unless we try." Connie said.

"Besides, it will be an entirely different world for you to visit if this pans out the way I want it to."

And if it doesn't?

"A world with no Grid no limitations...a place of temporary freedoms but infinite possibilities..."

Who was this and where did Connie go? Another eye roll and a whine told Steven she was still there.

"Yeah I'm being dramatic here. Just...give it a shot..."

He wasn't entirely what was going to happen but...

"Only if you ask the magic word..." Steven teased.

She dropped his disc unceremoniously on the bed, stunning him.

"Oh for fuck sake- " Connie started to say, until she breathed in and picked him up again.

"Please...now don't be a shit head....and get into my head."

Uncertainty, the only certain feeling, flowed through him. But he trusted Connie as he nodded, withdrawing into his disc as Connie peered at it for the longest time. Was she foolish to do this? Maybe. But she's made foolish decisions before and look where she was now. She swallowed, before lifting up her hair and slotting him with the tiny thrilling jolt that came with every time she put him in there. She laid down slowly, her head against the pillow, looking at the roof as her eyes began to shine pink slightly. The feeling with him here, with every nerve and cell, every heartbeat, every breath and every touch, taste and smell. Two souls in one and it was...still amazing every time they did it. Now this was the next sensation. Connie still wasn't sure if it was going to work anyway, having come this far with working in sync.

But in the world of dreams, anything was possible.

"Good night Steven." She said, before slowly closing her eyes.

"Good night Connie." Steven said, loud and clear.


	7. Cyber Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreams so cold and deep, lifted out with artificial wings made of spells of binary

He couldn't render much, though, unsure of where he was, Steven attempted to dive in deep into the root access, but kept coming up with the same details over and over.

Location: Unknown.

He couldn't see, couldn't hear....no Avatar. Just feeling...and what he could see, was a dark rose pink...and hollow yet heavy emotions in his chest. He tried to find Connie's Avatar, or her psyche. Unsure of where she was being lead in this...place where she reserved herself into the depths of slumber; to restore herself. A humans life, shut down temporarily; the verge of cessation without disappearing entirely. It wouldn't be the first place Steven had found himself floating in; areas of the Domain not fully programmed properly, with broken physics and clipped graphics. Here, however, there was no hum he was used to listening in to. Doing all the checks, Steven couldn't figure out where he truly was.

Location: Unknown.

Maybe he had to make sure his own systems were working properly with the usual diagnostics.

File name: SQU_RQ_V3. UNKNWNEXC

Status: Active

File Size: Undetected.

The usual scenario. The Ancillas used to say AI's file sizes were hard to track unless it was connected to a Cabinet, in this case, Steven knew his didn't exist, so there wasn't anywhere to trace him.

_Run Default Avatar Skin_

_Load out failure_

Oh so he couldn't even project himself in this place with the avatar with the least amount of processing required. Hm...what else could he try?  
  


_Run overlay_

_Load out failure_

He couldn't even create his own room, meaning he had no power or control. He wasn't connected to any Grid or the Domain itself. Interesting.

_Search Connie_

_......_

_HELLO STEVEN_

What ever he felt was most surprising, the code itself nothing from what he had suspected would pop up. Connie was no where to be seen however; so he tried as he might to speak to her.

_Connie where are you?_

_..._

_Connie?_

_..._

This was definitely alien for sure, where code held no control or influence or anything. Completely up to the unfiltered mind of Connie Maheswaran, an ordinary human. An ordinary mind born of flesh and soul as opposed to the binary Steven had become so accustomed to. Inaccessibility of the human mind where it was so naturally constructed and grew and absorbed and perhaps an AI would never be able to match up to something this so complex. It was more of a challenge than a worry; a test of ones ability of an AI look into how a human mind really functions with its own set of rules. 

He tried again.

_Connie?_

_....._

His psyche travelled the endless void of pink but found nothing in his eternal search. Not until he found something quite small.

A violin?

Approaching it, he did more scans.

_Properties._

_Unknown._

What did a violin have to do with anything in this place? An instrument of music. Connie never mentioned violins, though she never mentioned much about her own past. To pry or not to pry. He went to open it.

_Open file._

....

The violin started to glow blue and grew a bit bigger. Steven then noticed the void glitching and distorting, like a subroutine was activated as he opened it up like a regular file. An executable. In a wave of pixels by pixels, the blue skies formed, a garden hedge emerged around in in a square and fresh green grass grew beneath his feet. His feet?

An Avatar formed without his permission; a pair of jeans and a pink shirt with a red vest. Running his hands he could feel his Avatars physics...potent and detailed to the smallest expression of rubbing real denim and fabric like it was part of the Domain with the strongest processing power available. The more examined this strange place, the more detail that was put into it, like the fields of strawberries behind him and the smell wafted in the most exquisite fashion. It was...unique. He's never smelled strawberries before.

Looking around he tilted his up to see the strong beam of the sun and his audio sensors picked up the chirps of birds and the sounds of the gusting winds. And a tune that played before him, causing him to see a small girl sitting on a chair, long black hair, brown skin...a simple long blue dress and the silver berry pendant she always wore...so pure...so young, as she held the violin under her chin and began to play a tune he didn't recognise.

Amazement filtered through his form, as he sat down and crossed his legs; his head in his hands he was listening to her so intently...music being a passion Steven could enjoy so scarcely. Connie would go into clubs and listen to the heavy beats of all the eletronica, the techno, the trance, dubstep complextro...but the simply joy of a single instrument that was able to chime so easily and keep people roped in, a story with the words in the notes, unmatched by anything else but feeling, ears that channel the soundwaves into ones soul. 

The way she moved about was an art form...a performance solo yet endearing. A tune starting off sweet...before the key change brought in the sadness. What was she sad about? Why did she got from happy to...this...?

Clouds formed above so quickly and what was once an average temp detected became deathly cold. Steven shivered...simulations again unmatched by the best systems. The winds howled louder than ever before and the music suddenly...stopped with a broken twang. Looking at the younger Connie, she was covered in mud, limp as the violin lay broken on the mushy grounds as she was on the verge of tears.

Steven walked forward, unsure of what he should do in this situation. Going towards he and kneeling down, he tried to put a hand on her shoulder, until her attention snapped towards him, causing his form to glitch out in the surprise.

"Don't touch me!" Connie screamed; pushing Steven to the ground.

Keeping an eye on her with an expression of worry, Steven wasn't even sure what was going right now...an angry, mud slapped Connie as she began to shrink herself away, tears sparkling down her cheeks as she bared her teeth. There was a part of her he had always known existed but for how long? What did this all mean? Steven didn't even understand; was this a human thing he was witnessing?

"Connie it's me, Steven." He said.

"You know me...is....is your Avatar corrupted? Does it need a reboot?"

Glitched up Avatars were a common occurrence. Connie would never willingly project herself this small and her anger at him was a bit puzzling for him to figure out on his own. This level of human nuance would be tricky for a normal AI to handle. But Steven knew he wasn't an ordinary AI.

Even then, most AI's, even the Ancillas, very rarely showed emotion and when they did it was for reasons; Amethyst being the prime example. The Avatar began to glitch out as well as the world around him falling apart, bit by bit as the pink void began to come back, the remnants of this projection swirling back into the broken violin; as Steven grabbed hold of Connie to prevent her from being swept into it, despite her protests for him to let go. Eventually, the chaos ceased and the broken violin vanished in the blink of an eye.

Connie was still pissed and pulled her hand away from Steven, glaring at him all the while. He didn't mean harm...he just didn't get what he was seeing nor what Connie was trying to do.

"Tell me what you need." He asked with sincerity. 

She shook her head.

"No! I don't want your help! I just want you gone!" She screamed, with her Avatar distorting further.

"I don't need your help! I don't need anyone!"

He did another diagnostic check on her.

_Select Properties_

_File Unknown_

Human Avatars weren't at all difficult to inspect; with even minute details like file name and location normally coming up. Even those with VPNs would come up with a single location, even if it was false. This had nothing. No source, no file name, no origin. It just... _existed._

And it _scared_ him.

A notification pinged him, as it forced him to check out Connie's DP port; noting that the temperature was beginning to rise. Turning to Connie, it was apparent he had to calm her down. Most of the time with the DP inserts had actually began to improve the runtime on how long he could be within Connie's DP...as she got used to him, the time frame increased by seconds, then by minutes...by now on average consumption it was around an hour and a half, maybe three hours with dull activities. Ronaldo had been tracking this all the while, actually appreciating Connie taking the risk in testing if this was something on a biological nature; Connie's own Soulware perhaps able to adjust the load and processes required for him to dwell as long as he could. Calorie in take had to increase due to the fact of two minds in ones head needing to consume more energy than usual, the only biological change that anyone had noticed. 

The only issues now was Steven couldn't even track how long he was in here for...and what could mentally track had only been about...an hour maybe? To be within this strange place must have taken up a lot more energy than any of them realised. Right now, he tried to make sense of what was happening right in front of him.

"I...I need your help too!" He dared to ask, the formulated fear directing the course of action, the need to preserve to ensure he wasn't taken away somewhere he wasn't able to escape from.

"I...don't know where I am."

She squinted at him, her form beginning to glitch a lot less.

"You...I don't know you. But I think I should?" She queried, being rightfully confused herself.

Steven smiled weakly and nodded.

"I am Steven." He said. Though he wasn't sure why Connie didn't remember him.

"I am an AI."

Connie cocked an eyebrow.

"An...AI?" She said.

Her form began to glitch rapidly, distorting her as Steven tried to grab her hands; the only tangible object he could place. He didn't want her to fear him, or to disappear in this lonely place of nothing more than his own psyche for company.

"It's okay I'm friendly! Don't go!" He called out, distressed over what was happening. Blue lines appeared over her body, the distortions warping her body in larger pixels that been going completely chaotic and her own words becoming fuzzed and distorted as well.

"Stev----" She said before all that was left was a high pitched noise.

Her hands vanished into thin air as the pixels spiralled around into a blocky sphere, Steven putting his hands to his ears as the noise was way too loud for him to be comfortable with; his own Avatar suffering under duress. He pulled himself back as the blocky sphere spun about rapidly, with white light pouring through its cracks. Steven was forced to shield his eyes as it exploded it....and when he did another scan, he picked up a file before him.

File name: CM_888_V1GS_. SolEX

Finally, a part that he could at the very least comprehend. The light soon faded and Connie that he knew of currently emerged with arms out, her clothes of what she had worn to bed; the red singlet and panties and the silver, strawberry pendant.

Steven sighed with relief; Connie taking into account her surroundings as she looked at her hands and then looked around, noting how she was floating this mysterious pink void and then finally seeing Steven before her, her eyes widened at the sight, so all he could do was wave awkwardly at her.

"Hi Connie." He squeaked out, voice cracking unintentionally.

She blinked, then rubbed her forehead. She was just as confused as he was.

"You invited me in to your head remember?"

She floated closer to him, like she was fluttering down with unseen wings like cyber angels of ancient myths, looking at this clothes, he looked down again...suddenly he was back in his Default Suit, lines, displaying his Kernel Core and all.

"I wasn't expecting lucid dreaming." Was all she could comment on.

Lucid Dreaming?

"What's that?" Steven questioned.

It was apparent, Steven had never dreamed once in his AI life. Understandable, of course....the way the human mind was a tricky line of discoveries on its own. Never always working the way you want it to...a normal set back.

"The mind is in a state of awareness within the dream." Connie answered.

He crossed his arms, intrigued.

"I thought...you would always be aware....I know about dreaming but...there's.. a loss of control when one dreams?" He asked.

A nightmare for an AI, most definitely.

"Usually." She said.

"Humans dream all the time. It's a natural state most people go into when we sleep."

Fascinating. There was a terror in the unknown...but it would explain why Steven couldn't find Connie earlier on...as she was...not lucid within the dream and that only now she could reign in the control over the world around her. She smiled at Steven's line of questioning...something she should have expected as they went into it.

"And that...th-that was you I saw just now..." He stammered.

Connie tilted her head.

"Me? You saw...me? A dream version maybe." She said.

"Lucid Dreaming doesn't happen all the time...but you...you've never had the pleasure of delving into the true unknown."

And maybe...it would explain while he wasn't supposed to be doing it, that when he watched her while she slept, he could see her resting with a huge smile or frown, moving about. That was her...dreaming. Pleasant, awful, depressing...the whirlwind of emotions that such dreams can bring and Connie has no control of it.

"But there is safety in here. No chance of dying in a dream." She continued.

"Within the Domain there is always risk but...this is our own...pasture."

Connie seemed really fond of this...twisting perplex phenomena. He'd heard of dreams but he never realised how bizarre and crazy it sounded. 

"I don't think I would be ever to dream properly on my own." He said.

"I mean I can shut everything down to minimal operative power, but there's nothing but the feeling of being cold and lifeless within Standby Mode. Dormancy is basically near death as it requires activation from an external source."

Which suggested he didn't do it often. Connie put her hands on her chest, furrowing her brows and appeared to have a straining look, as the pink void eventually warped back into the blue skies...white clouds and a long white bridge that streamed through the skies eternal. Breathtaking and invigorating with sight alone. Connie had then changed her clothes again to a simple blue singlet and long blue skirt with the slit on the right thigh, with heeled clogs and sunglasses. Face with make up and eye jewels like she would wear in real life. Steven himself had changed into a pink shirt and beige cargo shorts and red sandals. The power to control dreams like this was akin to changing the graphics simulations which was always a strenuous and risky task of not done correctly; but Connie made it look easy, for a human mind to create on command. Floating to the ground, their feet landed on the white tiles as she slowly began to walk, with Steven following suit beside her.

"Don't you find the feeling of being awake all the time...well, tiring?" Connie asked.

Being awake...synonymous with being active and switched on.

"If I need to wind down, I just watch TV back home." He answered.

While this was relatively peaceful now, Steven wasn't sure if the dream he just witnessed meant anything; Connie certainly didn't raise it up at all. Steven felt her sadness and her anger as his own and wondered if that something she had always dreamed about.

"Garnet usually says that I can lie down on my own bed to relax but I never really sleep normally. I think...a lot of the stuff I do is comparable to human activities, according to Amethyst."

Which made his own history that much more intriguing to Connie. What was he made for? Why was he so human?

"The Ancillas must have taught you a lot then." Connie stated.

"But to sleep is such a normal human thing as you know. To dream, however...is another experience entirely."

So he had witnessed. Seeing this forged world with possibilities so infinite would be the envy of not just AI's but maybe GIS as well; the true power of the human mind was a staggering revelation. After all, organics created them...so they would have to be powerful to begin with.

"So why would you want to spend all your time in the Domain then?" He questioned, remembering a previous discussion.

Connie stopped in front of him, her feet aligning with the other as she lifted her head up to the sky, tracking the clouds as they drifted by.

"The Domain makes sense." She said.

"Dreams are incredible but they don't do much other than projecting everything your mind has the potential to create based on already existing information. Nothing unique...but your imagination and your subconscious throwing every dark cloud at you when you let it...and when you don't want it to."

The aforementioned loss of control

"The Domain has its limitations too." Steven said.

"It has more control and can be manipulated but it does have it own host of issues to take into account."

The debate of dreams verses virtual simulations that would try to stake claim on which was preferable. Steven on the other hand found dreams to be a sanctuary of running through parts that while held no logic, that wouldn't have as many problems as the Domain; namely breaking down didn't always mean it was the worst thing to happen; you would just...wake up.

In any case, Steven would love it that if one day that he too could wake up; to find himself in not a dream, but in the real world as it was. The world Connie saw with her own two eyes every single day and feeling the real was such a divine, raw experience that Steven treasured. But dreaming with Connie was its own adventure.

"Can I ask...did you used to play violin?"

Connie's form suddenly froze right there and then that Steven initially believed that there was a legitimate issue with her avatar again...only that this wasn't her Avatar...it was Connie's raw Soulware. It was a reflection of herself and her psyche in one without all the coded mumbo jumbo in the way. No HUDS, no root access...just pure belief.

"Yeah." She answered, with obvious hesitation.

"Why do you ask?"

Steven pursed his lips. The dream itself showed a side of Connie he'd never seen before. Was it an accurate reflection of Connie in general? Maybe even a memory of the past in a form like a short film with no director or budget?

"I...kind of saw this...smaller version of you playing this beautiful song." He said with fondness, his hands on his chest.

"But then it went sad."

Connie's head dipped briefly and it took her a moment until she turned to him, approaching his form. The sunglasses made it hard for him to perceive what she was thinking or feeling right now, shielding the tell-tale truth from Steven alone.

"Humans change their entire lives." She said, as the wind picked up all of sudden.

"It's not worth looking into something that used to be. It's a pointless venture into a useless past that has no relevance in this day and age."

So she didn't...want to look back? Why? There had to some reason it was shown to him that way. A visage Connie had nothing to do with on a conscious level; it was...as if it was showing it to him on an subconscious one. The subconscious itself, to Steven's understanding, was the human sum of everything in their life that provided the means for a part of the mind that was not focally aware. It reminded him a lot of his internal memories....some accessible, some hidden. Recommended for the sake of AI's mental state not to try and alter too much lest you literally get wires crossed and break down. Some AI's had gone down that path by accident, a focus to improve their software but ended up doing the complete opposite. AI's were designed to learn and their overall 'subconscious' helped their programming process new information faster than most. New information replacing old or added it on. 

Memories good and bad stuck with Steven however; the Ancillas describing this is unique to him specifically, where he was coded with a more complex empathy application. The design meant to utilise existing experiences in order to make connections with others.

So he recognised this as a potential simulation of a bad memory of Connie's...something she had just mentioned in way most AI's or GIS would interpret it. But really, Steven knew exactly what she meant.

"I'm not that dumb Connie." He said.

"It was something that happened to you."

Was she surprised for him assuming that? He couldn't tell.

"Why would you say that?" She said bluntly, taking off her sun glasses.

The world itself began to get colder again...with dark clouds looming overhead. Connie's focus was honed in on him, steel in strength. A statement not taken too lightly.

"I...I dunno." Steven answered, rubbing the back of his head.

"I think that...you used to play the violin but suddenly you don't? Something changed as you said."

Connie looked away for the moment, struggling to look him in the eyes before she turned around and started walking again. Steven followed suit, not wanting to be left behind.

"Disinterest." She said as a matter of fact, picking up the pace in her stride.

 _Disinterest_...surely it wasn't that simple. Berry-Byte was anything but.

"You're lying." He claimed.

Stopping again to a halt, thunder rolled on in the distance as Connie pulled her arms in her own her sides as she began to shake. His sensors were picking up the heat on the DP again, indicating stress on her end.

"Steven you wouldn't have a fucking clue." She cried out.

Oh here come the cursewords....turning around as she pressed an index finger hard against his chest as she glared the mother of all glares at him.

"I dragged your ass in here hoping to make you feel _something_...you want to feel humanity in the strongest way and here you are, digging into my god damn past like it's just a fun everyday zip file to hack into."

It was true that he wanted to know what it was like to be human...but the side of him that wanted to connect to the most was Connie alone...to figure out who she is inside and out...and maybe that finding out where she came from would help better understand Connie as who she was normally. Yes, she changed and yes, maybe that there was a disinterest. Something in what he saw was calling out to him in a way that left him mystified and the desire to discover it all was what he was feeling compelled to investigate.

"I definitely feel something Connie, I already told you that." Steven said, raising his hands in defence.

"I was...kind of hoping you would...maybe play the violin again for me? I would love to hear you play."

Love to hear her? What was this? Connie stepped back, keeping her eyes on him to make sure he didn't make any sudden movement. It was then Steven felt a drop of rain on his face...and another...until there was a great big downpour. Connie remained in place, allowing the rain to drench her hair and her make up was running down her face...her eyes sparkled as Steven struggled to tell the difference between what was the rain and what was a tear. Damn it, he was getting this all wrong again wasn't he?

"Or not...it's okay. I think...it brings on bad memories for you....and you don't want to revisit them."

_ERROR_

_CPD REMOVED FROM DOMAIN PORT, CONNECTION_ _TERMINATED_

* * *

**3:03 AM, THURSDAY**

Suddenly he found his world going black briefly, until he detected his Chip being inserted into the stand and projecting himself in Connie's Room...only, that she was nowhere to be seen. Looking outside, it had been pouring out there as well. Steven looked at his holographic hands and pondered over everything that dream had provided him...but looking back a bit further, something else Connie had said prior stood out to him.

_I could tell you stories but that's the most minor compared to others..._

So that had to be one of them. One she claimed that was bigger than the one's Steven's witnessed so far. It was the only logical connection to make. Yet, she had since left the apartment without him and he constantly went in repeated thought cycles as to whether he should retreat back into the Domain, or wait for Connie to return.

He settled on waiting for a bit; though did a few scans to see if he could triangulate her position. Then again...she always told him off for trying to find out where she was and he never settled into the fact that she may have wanted some time alone despite Connie never really saying it. A lot of the stuff she said or did was on complicated way of paradoxes. Or maybe she was trying to get him to...read the room, as she had told him once...maybe three times before.

Which, he was kind of doing with the dream...or he wasn't...only overanalyzing what he was seeing. Correlating what was a visual representation of something that did happen. It looked to fake and projected to be a complete recap. So he spent the time researching dreams for the next hour, trying to find their meaning.

A lot of sites mentioned dreams and the philosophy behind them. Enough articles and Steven could assume it was a part of ones self that was either trying to tell a story in a convoluted way or it was a message overall. Or nonsense...as Connie had state that it was a mishmash of information gathered by conscious thought and dealing with emotional memory, pushing out symbols and motifs. Good grief, there was so much involved with dreams alone no one could fully agree on a solid answer. A biological reason for dreaming but how the dream is created has had dozens of theories and collected evidence that never pushed in one direction or the other.

Brain activity on high, much like an AI's subroutines working constantly. Steven wondered if it made people more tired due to that, but apparently not. It was very strange, abstract to AI's to begin to summarise what it meant to dream and dream like a human. Most would fall into loops, a type of glitch where it went back and forth trying to deal with inconsistencies with the information provided and ultimately, due to feedback breakdown, AI's would begin to deteriorate and act strangely and unfortunately would either be made dormant, or horrifically, their entire program terminated and deleted permanently, with all information lost alongside them.

It reminded Steven too much of his own internal grievances; especially his own feelings for Connie. So...weird and unsettling alongside that which made him pleasant and painful. More paradoxes that amounted to pieces of himself that were basically ordering him to follow those feelings. Was this a human thing or some kind of bug he wasn't sure.

As soon as he heard the door slam, he could see Connie in a raincoat and holding a large black box...or container of an unusual shape. She instantly got everything off and then slammed the box on the bed. Steven tried to etch a feeling from her aura and expression and realised she had worn her singlet and underwear underneath her black coat...and questioned nothing else....but her hair was a soaking mess, heaving across her skin, as a drop rolled down her chest that caused Steven to swallow.

She slid herself onto the bed, crossing her legs as she unclasped the clips keeping the box closed, until she flipped it open. From where Steven was, he couldn't quite see what was inside.

"What ya got there Berry Girl?" He asked.

Pausing, she gave him brief, but potent eye contact with those half lidded, unreadable eyes but Steven certainly felt the pang upon such a glance; a fire covered by her mystery. She ended up pulling out, of all things...a violin...a small white thing with a bow.

"You wanted to hear me play dingus." She told him, before kicking the box off the bed with a thump that startled Steven. But as soon as he realised that, he beamed, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh? I...uh..."

Connie rolled her eyes at his loss for real words.

"Hey, I went to a 24 hour pawn shop in the bucketing rain and Biscuit Boy only gives me two and half words?" She critiqued.

And she left without warning, so how else was he supposed to react? She pulled strings hair out of her face and put her mop behind her as she began to rest the base of the violin underneath her chin and grabbed the bow. She took a deep breath, sighing as she looked into nothingness for a good minute, adjusting the pegs afterwards and the neck and tried to shift herself to get a good posture behind it, all the while muttering and cursing to herself.

"Okay let's see if I can remember...Chopin's Nocturne...good lord that's an oldie but the only one I can recall at the top of my head...man it's been forever so I'll know I'll fuck this up for sure."

Steven laid down on the Stand; his projection flat across the groundless plain, as he held his head in his hands and was intent to listen irregardless of she felt she was going to get it wrong. He watched as she began to move the bow about, closing her eyes and flowing through the sounds the way he heard them in her dream, watching both her hands, her fingers as the worked with the strings and the bow, her body motions sway and jolting with the slow and fast paced notes. He wasn't that big into music; the way with the tunes he normally listened to were...generic compared to this. A display of everything in loneliness...again, a wordless tale with notes, in the middle of a wet night, set by the pink glow of Steven's hologram. 

Emotional memory, as Steven recalled...instilling that which provided more than what Connie needed to project into this exclusive, one of a kind performance. Vulnerability of the side Steven had only see in the false world of dreams...and seeing it for real...it captivated him, churning his being for what it was worth as Connie gave what she could towards the story of the song alone. She was so...focused, loud in visual expression, a type of passion not seen from her. While the world of hacking and the Domain what she had herself being a thrall to, this was something of what was a gift; within her...programming to speak? So much Steven could give praise to in the audible delight his sensors were telling him to embrace more and more...seeing the Connie behind the tough exterior.

And when she finished, she placed the violin on the bed alongside the bow and had pushed her hands in front of her onto the mattress, eyes looking down again, unfocused and silent for another minute or two, until she started to sob, tears running down her face again as Steven noticed, standing up as she gritted her teeth and grabbed the neck of the violin with the intent to throw it.

"For fuck sake!" She cried.

Steven's eyes widened as her sudden violent mood swing.

"Connie woah what's wrong?" He queried.

The violin lingered longer in the air than he anticipated...instead she brought it down within due course and slowly put everything back in the case, locking it up and kicking it underneath the bed before she went back on the bed and spaced out again, rubbing the tears from her eyes. If Steven dared to and if it was possible...he wanted to hug her...and make her feel good.

That's what it was, wasn't it? That she wanted him not just to feel human, but to feel good inside. Music being said to be a persuader of emotions in many directions. 

"Uhh...thank you for playing that for me. I really enjoyed it....you have talent." He complimented in return, before pausing as he reflected on another idea.

"I'd like to learn music myself. Maybe you could teach me."

A statement that had Connie snicker as she sniffed.

"Maybe..." She said.

"Steven...I...."

He was willing to listen to anything she had to say, irregardless of how she wanted to communicate. To learn the hidden meaning behinds messages, visualisation of expressions, songs anything...that's what Steven wanted to grasp so badly.

"I expect you...to do your own research. There's...so much you can learn. Find out what you want to play...I want to see you try."

And with that she could count on. He would not let her down. 

"I will most, certainly do so, Berry-Girl." Steven said with a bow.

Right now, as he looked at once cheerful expression that turned back down in a near instant, he tried to figure out why that caused so much pain in return. A tune so welcoming the the responders that it instead caused Connie nothing but grief in return. What would be so impactful to have her feel that way?

"Right now I want to focus on help cheering you up. Did you want to go watch that live action Dogcopter movie and laugh at all the bad CGI?"

An offer that had Connie giggle. A giggle that had Steven have a tiny harmless jolt run through unexpectedly. She got up and took the CPD from the Stand and raised to her face with both palms; again shrouding her face in his pink glow, his hologram dwarfed against the features on her face. Her cute nose, her sparkling eyes and the hopeful smile she wore. More of that jolt ran through his circuitry on that glance, like she was charging him with an electrifying look. She went back to her bed, sliding her knees as she shuffled towards the pillows and rested his CPD on the second pillow beside her head. Tucking herself under the blanket, she rested her head on its side, still wearing that smile as she put her hands underneath her cheek...and that damn giggle...it was doing more to Steven than he could possibly fathom, the circumstance that this...this right here was actually tormenting him to the point he expected the cyber angels to drag him back to the Domain (a nickname he used to describe the Ancillas.) just to make sure he wasn't suddenly gonna go rampant with all the impossibilities that these intense emotions were brought on him from Connie herself.

An index finger bopped his head, which had Steven chuckle at the unusual gesture, and another bop to his tiny nose, with Connie squinting to see if she could even see it on his hologram, before she sighed.

"A pity you can't be larger in the real world." She said.

A raised eyebrow from Steven indicated his baffled mindset.

"Why's that?" He questioned.

Connie rolled her eyes once more, before she pursed her lip.

"Oh no reason...trying to imagine a massive lightbulb walking around the apartment perhaps."

Yes and blind everyone around them. It wouldn't be like that but it made for a funny image. Right now, the image before him had this...general stare of..something, biting her lip briefly, her mind racing on so many possibilities that her imagination was failing her outright. If only Steven could scan her properly; feeling the way that being there with him made her feel right now. A strong need and a strong want, tingly skin and temptation for the impossible both worried and terrified her. 

"We can always ask Ronaldo for larger projection discs just for the apartment itself. Retrofit a cabinet?" Steven suggested.

Maybe. Some products allowed for larger projections of AI's but normally for, yet again, commercial purposes.

"Imagine the electricity costs though." Connie commented.

"I'm already paying an arm and leg...figuratively speaking."

Ideas were ideas as the two spoke into the night and the early hours of Thursday morning. Connie never did tell him the story about the violin, but that was okay. Eventually, with a yawn, she tried to insert him into her DP again and that the two could continue to talk in her dreams about those ideas... As she struggled to accept what she was beginning to hold close to her chest, Connie figured continuing his journey took priority over what she really wanted...and that Steven would find his rightful place in the world.

And so would she.


	8. Strings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven learns to play a musical instrument.

Steven had never felt like this before. It was powerful and it was amazing and he wished this immense feeling could last as its own subroutine. Extending his thought process to where he had never found himself before and was very much compelled to follow this feeling through. They had a rough start but once they had cleared up misunderstandings and that Connie did have a more gentle personality within her programming somewhere, he wanted to reach out to it and talk with it some more. Humanity was nuanced to where the one person could have so many of this pieces of their personality shine through, easy or hard in proclamation. Working with on a professional level was easy. As far as their friendship was considered that was a given; their time spent together meant more to him than she could possibly imagine. There were, of course other obstacles but Steven was if nothing but persistent. But matters did elude his knowledge once every so often, like why he was still a bit confused over Connie's actions as she never went to explain why she got so angry after playing her violin. Despite this, it was her spurn, her encouragement to him to begin playing an instrument was something that he had become fixated on. There was so much to process, to analyse upon but the only issue was what instrument would he be able to learn?

He was hanging with the Ancillas at the Temple, talking with them as he paced back and forth consistently, the three GIS sitting on the couch as they tried to assist him. Their knowledge on humans was always..sparse but honestly he still valued their opinions nevertheless.

"I've never heard of AI's trying to create music. Are you sure this is a good idea?" Pearl wondered; the main GIS for scepticism.

It was normally all the humans that had the creative know how to develop songs; Steven only listened to mainstream songs off-hand and never really thought twice about the process behind their making, but after listening to Connie play, he was extremely keen, thinking that such beautiful sound manipulation was very pleasant indeed.

"There have been GIS dedicated to the craft, but very few." Said Garnet.

"It's not entirely common; only if asked by their superiors. Even then the results weren't always great."

Steven didn't really care, he just wanted to find out where he should start.

"Connie plays Violin. What goes great with Violin?" Steven asked.

Amethyst had been lounging there with a big smirk on her face, like she knew something the others didn't. 

"Oh I see what's going on here." She said.

"Maybe you should listen to more music."

Amethyst as a Gen II GIS was supposed to be designed to be more advanced and she was the one who hung out with human Avatars more than Pearl or Garnet would, so she had a deeper understanding of them overall. Even the former agreed to Amethyst's suggestion, much to her own shock.

"I hate to say this but Amethyst is right." Pearl stated.

Listen to more music...hmm...he could?

"I have several TubeTube Playlists if you want some inspiration bruh." Amethyst told him.

But for some reason, Garnet refrained commenting _too_ much. She'd always been like that. But something about her stance in sitting there with a pensive stare told Steven she knew something as well, being on the same page as Amethyst. Pearl was ignorant of the notation, but still supported Steven in any of his pursuits.

"What's your opinion Garnet?" He asked.

She looked up. Her judgement was what valued the most; one of the more skilled GIS with the fastest processing power than even Amethyst or Pearl. 

"You're looking to impress Connie with your skills." She said, speaking her mind as asked.

"That is admirable. Just make sure she's ready to hear it, so what ever you chose to do, make sure you learn how the music sends the message to her, but don't leave it too late."

A bit ominous, but Steven expected that from Garnet. After all, she did say to treat Connie with care after the first time they met, but their advice was solid so far. A grin crept up on his face as he whacked a fist into his other palm.

"I got it! I have a plan!"

* * *

His first trip was to Tube-Tube Server. Teleporting, he was in front of an extremely tall building, with Tube Tubes red logo on the top. Going inside, the interior was always bigger and all bright lights everywhere in symmetrical lines. Going to a reception he was met with a VI; a human like construct that was designed to help with his his shirt. A short, young blonde woman...the normal format, Avina class VI. Standard for most sites, their colour and styled blouses indicated their versions. Tube Tube was a popular site for humans for all sorts of videos, not that Steven hadn't watched videos before, but nothing to the extreme of a specific topic.

"Welcome." She said with a smile and the default cheerful feminine pitch.

"Please type in your request."

An orange holographic keyboard formed in front of him and he was just about to type in....except he wasn't sure what to type in, pausing as he reflected on what he had set out to search for. Music was said to have many different genres...and many different instruments.

"Hmmm..." He hummed.

"Music?"

Clicking enter, his form was teleported to a separate room. Each person was allocated their own little personal space; a red couch that would form underneath him and forced Steven to sit down. Around him were floating screens in a dark void, with different covers, titles and options to choose from.

There was a lot and Steven began to feel overwhelmed with the choices he had. So many...

So he had spent the following few days to try and find something akin to his desires. Something that would have caught his attention from the get go and give it a try. Rock, Pop, Techno...that latter one he knew all too well from the clubs Connie visited...no...it needed to be something simple, not overly complex. A rhythm and a song.

Vids of people playing guitars, piano and the like. He pondered Violins but didn't want to make comparisons to Connie. Nope so he avoided those vids but would...might try them down the track of he could. Some of the last videos did contain unique instrument; a tiny guitar known as a Ukulele.

He went starry eyed and gushed to himself about how cute it was and the light _dhling, dhling, dhling_ as they played the strings. He'd fallen in love with it straight way like it was the best thing he'd ever since. Well, than the video about the cat on the piano but that was besides the point.

Going back to the Temple after gorging on troves of content, he researched what type of Ukulele he would like. Settling in a red and yellow one, Steven made the purchase and downloaded a simulated one straight away. Sitting on his bed, he held the tiny thing in his hand and strummed, squeeing and giggling to himself as he played it. One couldn't help themselves with this type of joy and giddiness. In a way, that he had tried to hide from Connie, a similar feeling of warmth and happiness...

However, as pleasant as the sounds were, Steven could make music but he couldn't set a tune, as Garnet walked in while he sighed.

"Garnet why isn't this working?" He asked her, groaning.

The GIS hummed.

"You need rhythm. You need what is called, a funky flow." She said.

Words he'd expect a human to say or even an AI from one of those try to be hip retail shops but...not Garnet. She ended up downloading a few sheets of paper on the fly via a small pop up screen. By a few, it meant piles just dropping on top of his bed like snow and one random gently topping his head.

"You also need Sheet Music." 

Ah. Of course. Steven took one sheet off his head, however and rubbed his chin, humming as he scanned the graphs up and down, while Garnet walked out of the room without much expression.

"Good luck."

* * *

Songs that were from older times, centuries ago. His software adapted the notes in sequence as he began to practice. Every pluck and twine, his posture, the way things could be created. Like code. Except a lot easier. It was more satisfying on the audio sensors and that the more he played the better he got. After dealing with Garnets downloaded sheet music mess she created. In between work and all the play and spare time in between jobs, Steven practised in secret. He wanted to surprise Connie with the hard work he put into this to impress her more so. And so after enough courage data was collected, Steven had asked Connie to hang out on Friday and she had to promise that she'll not be doing anything. She had mentioned she was busy and maybe the following fortnight. That was fine...it gave Steven more time to work with in his solo performance.

Once the day did arrive, Steven was so psyched; he even wore a suit for his hologram for the occasion. Because yes, this was special, because what he had written with all the inspiration he could find, was a song for her to tell her how he felt.

His research lead him into sweet serenades; those of centuries past had used to...woo and present types of courtship. His purpose to explore the limits of his emotions as an AI and beyond anything any of his kind had ever done. Even GIS.

Amethyst; being Amethyst even said he should look into forming consensus with her, but Pearl said he shouldn't; it being impossible because she was human. Steven didn't care what Connie was and was prepared to make her feel good. For all the work she had done for him, she deserved this in return.

She had come home after a day at work around five forty five. He hadn't changed but he tried to get Connie's attention, whom instead swatted him off as she hopped into the bathroom; the one room in the apartment he was never allowed to go into. Steven was patient; smiling and waiting in the lounge room as it sounded like she was having a shower; perhaps changing herself into pyjamas...good, good. Steven wanted her to relax. It was odd on how she seemed to be in there for a while and looking at the time. An hour later, she was in a dark red gown of sorts. Her black lipstick, her mascara, eyeliner, eye shadow and the two red face jewels on the outer parts of her eyes. She was getting ready for the night! So Steven quickly changed into his suit and made sure no one else would interrupt as he silenced all calls coming in.

"Don't you look amazing?" He said.

Connie made a small smile.

"Yeah I know right...hey can you do me a favour and message me if Pat calls? Work related stuff but she's looking into stuff for me while I'm gone."

Wait what?

"Where are you going?" He asked, a sting hitting his chest.

She'd gone back and forth between her room and the kitchen bench with two bags. A small purse and a larger black duffel bag.

"Out." She said bluntly, rushing.

His hand went to his chest as it began to ache further.

"Oh...I thought I said keep tonight free?" He told her, frowning.

She froze for the moment, looking away as she blinked.

"Shit, that was tonight?" She questioned.

"Sorry Steven I completely forgot!"

And the ache just got worse.

"Oh...well, maybe another time then?" Steven suggested, trying hard to hide his disappointment.

Connie shrugged, going back into the bathroom as she shouted.

"Maybe...but ya know it'll depend on my mood. One day I'll listen."

But he really wanted to...what was she doing tonight anyway?

"Oh uh, what was so important about tonight then? Got a job?" He asked.

He watched as Connie put several objects into the much larger bag, namely a toothbrush and toothpaste.

"No. I'm on a date." She answered.

A...a date?

"Um okay." Steven acknowledged, rubbing the back of his head.

"When will you be back?"

She didn't answer him straight away as she had gone back into the bathroom and pulled out a box and a bottle of pills and shoved them into her bag; but not before filling a small glass and swallowing a few.

"Uhh...tomorrow." She replied once more as she desired to get out the door as quickly as she could.

"Listen Steven, don't wait up for me...go hang out with Ronaldo tonight...I'll make it up to you, I promise."

But she promised she would listen to them tonight...and as she left and the door slammed, Steven was left on his lonesome...the ache he felt being the worst imaginable. Why did it hurt so much? All signs pointed towards giving an experience of a life time and he'd spent chunks of hours in a day just for this moment...only for the challenge dejection to hit him harder than an bugged anti-virus pinging the wrong guy when you least expect it.

Not only that, it only being magnified in being alone in this empty apartment for the first time in a while.


	9. Overclocked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven spends time with Ronaldo about his woes.

It took him some time to process what just happened. Where did he go wrong and ultimately...

She was...on a date?

 _A date_ ; term used to find a potential long term partner, as Amethyst told him in regards to a lot of the shows they used to watch together. Surely, Steven had made his own feelings clear to her and that he could see that she had felt something for him. Or had he been misinterpreting that the whole time? He was so...stupid. For an AI, he wasn't very smart at reading people, as it turned out. He didn't want to make that mistake again but that didn't erase any conflicting routines in his software and if left unchecked it could have serious consequences.

After she had left, it had Steven then deliberate her last few words of wisdom.

_Hang out with Ronaldo tonight._

No....just...This didn't make any sense. Why didn't he know this before hand? Surely she would have brought it up in conversation at some point. Connie could trust Steven...they were friends? Right?

The pain he felt was unbearable; internal conflicts inevitable and he wasn't sure why. Everything had been going to so well and now it felt like it was falling apart faster than a broken aged program. A point in fairness to his emotions in their design being the most human aspect he would possess. This was what the Ancillas would claim if he had talked to them about what he was experiencing, specifically with Garnet. Though even she, the master of determining potential outcomes, never told him about this. Should he be angry at her then? No? He had to be angry at someone and there was no point in being in angry at Connie either even though Amethyst would probably say he should be. Overall, Steven definitely saddened...and...annoyed and confused.

Garnet had always taught him to keep his emotional systems stable. AI or GIS; no matter their level or grade of sophistication or origin, their programming can bug out due to extensive turbulent feedback. Not only that, they could leave lasting impacts on the Domain itself. GIS like the Ancillas usually had blocks in their programming to prevent them from overclocking; ensuring they weren't over-processing tasks that they weren't capable of handling to the extent that it drains up their processing power and leave them as a laggy, glitchy mess of a program. Overclocking in general was frowned upon too....while it did make sure they were stronger and faster, issues like the aforementioned would basically target you down and accuse you of trying to drain the Domain and ruin it for everyone. Emotions were one of those identified issues that risked stability just as much as any virus.

As for Steven; well, he knows this well and truly as an AI but...as far as his mysterious programming was understood, he knew that unchecked incidents would leave scars before so he held a habit of holding his emotions within and carrying on with his life. But this had somehow impacted him the most. But it was proving difficult to withhold.

With the disappointment not going anywhere anytime soon, Steven took Connie's words and messaged Ronaldo, telling him that he was coming over. Whether or not he was any source of comfort or not, he was the only one around with maybe an inch of insight on the human mind. He needed to process this properly and the thought of just talking to someone was something he desired to do.

Once he arrived at Ronaldos, Steven noticed the man was busy tinkering away with his work in fixing hardware with a screwdriver...or breaking it, either or. As Steven reappeared in CPD, he looked dejected and limp; making no attempt to hide his frustration.

"Oh man what happened to the big night you were preparing?" Ronaldo asked, surprised to see Steven so down. He was even the one who had helped Steven fine tune the suit was going to wear, demonstrating that some ladies love class.

"Connie forgot." Steven answered.

Ronaldo raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"It takes a lot for Connie to forget anything." He said, adjusting his goggles and putting them above his head.

"She always messages me about the damn instalments on a consistent and regular basis. I don't believe she forgot this at all."

But she was a busy woman otherwise; Steven knew she would have ten million other things on her mind. But that wasn't what was killing him the most.

"No...but she said she was on..... _a date_."

A statement that had Ronaldo's eyes widen, before he went teary eyed, but this was him being overdramatic on purpose.

"Oh dude...I am so...sorry." He cried.

"Man, I thought you said she liked you."

Steven was grateful Ronaldo was a staunch ally; he was just as useful as Connie was in terms of the depths of humanity. Especially when it came to issues relating to the latter. Ronaldo was the first to break down Steven's feelings for Connie to begin with and encouraged him to pursue. If anything, the techie was most enthused to assist where necessary; even looking over small details. He seemed more shaken with this than Steven was, however.

"I thought she did..." Steven answered in a sombre tone.

Ronaldo then took his CPD and took Steven to a nearby chair a soft light leather brown couch and placed him on the armrest, as he switched on the TV, an old school one connected to dozens of wires. Being the time it was, all they had were trash talk shows and late night dramas, what ever is on was surely to be a conversation piece. Steven relayed his worries and his horrible emotions all the while, bit by bit. 

"I don't understand it Ron." He said, sitting on his CPD with his legs crossed.

"She broke one promise and made another one. That's like..."

Ronaldo just nodded and hummed along.

"People are complicated specimens my friend." He said.

"I can only tell you that...I don't think she...doesn't like you?"

He didn't? Ronaldo was probably saying that to make him feel better.

"But _you_ like her. A lot."

Yeah. Something on seeing her profile on a list of potentials to aid him in his journey of self-discovery. One he's spent on for years. Her picture, her image...like a PNG unable to be deleted from his internal storage. Stood out to him the most. It wasn't the feeling he had at first. Perhaps it started off as a single byte in his system which grew more complex the more he got to know her. It took up more space and he was unaware that it was happening; a virus...

_I'm the antithesis...and I can be the Virus before the Vaccine._

"I do." Steven said.

"But...it's taken a lot for me to understand why. I needed her because she has most of the requirements necessary for what we had in mind."

And Ronaldo being who he was, being the most willing to help Steven in his endeavour for the ultimate truth. Connie, was but a tool for them to help Steven reach out into the world for answers; answers to questions that existed but he couldn't find the words to ask. He must have known though a different truth; skirting about his real reason, his belief as to why this would have happened without Steven knowing. He growled in frustration, almost giving up on this pointless and aimless thing. Obviously he was just too stupid to grasp onto it.

"Look, just forget about it for now and let's just not talk about her for the night and start talking about other things." Ronaldo urged.

"So...how has the search been anyway?"

* * *

The two spoke all night which gave Steven a new direction to think and to feel for the moment. The search for rogue GIS and for details as well as Ronaldo admitting to taking a peek at Lapis' Cabinet despite Connie saying not to. He had sworn he was being careful and never used wireless apparatus; ensuring any wifi signals were shut down before they were being activated. Steven was glad for the new focus, albeit edging towards investigating Lapis was an idea...that he had to shut down but wasn't against looking into it further when they had the chance.

Right now he didn't want to go back in there to reactivate her either and the Ancillas recommended her to stay dormant. It did remind Ronaldo of something, however.

"Oh yeah, President Dot is supposed to be having a conference in the morning." He said.

"She's got somethin' big she wants to show the world."

President Dot; CEO of PeriCom. Her involvement in the Domain is well known, pushing for the progression of the network across the world and always paying top dollar for valuable alien tech. 

"So why don't you and I play some Virtua Kart until....say the conference at 8 am?"

He had nothing else better to do anyway. Connie said that she wasn't going to back until tomorrow anyway.

"Sure." Steven answered with a shrug.

It wouldn't be the first time; Ronaldo could hook up Steven's CDP to the Game System...though Steven always worried about the amount of cables lying around the lounge; more than once he's seen Ronaldo trip over..and his Dad and the latter always telling him to clean up the cables.

The thing with Ronaldo unlike Connie, was that he was more savvy in the older hardware and more fascinated by the grit and the old school, since yes, technology did evolve. But some older systems worked perfectly fine. There was always something, minor or major, that Ronaldo could always find to be of some benefit or superiority over the more modern stuff. Ordering parts became a game for him as outdated models required him to hunt down anyone selling parts no one made anymore...and they weren't always cheap. Most of his money was made from repairs and borrowing from his father; which his father always begrudgingly did. Ronaldo even let slip Steven's name to convince him on some occasion although it wasn't always for Steven himself.

So the two did play up until the early hours of the morning and cans of energy drink piled up around the couch. His eyes were bloodshot as he struggled to stay awake. He was about to fall asleep, until Steven changed the channel and a loud noise had him jump in his chair and sling cans everywhere. Steven just rolled his eyes; this wouldn't be the first time.

Live on tv was the conference room; background of red drapes and a tiny person with triangular shaped blond hair, a grey suit and thick green glasses. Going to the podium riddled with microphones, she needed a stand as she placed her papers on to the podium itself and cleared her throat.

"Thank you for coming." She said.

"As you know we've been trying to find the lost Pink Monolith for a long time. We have some bad news and some good news."

As always. Ronaldo didn't like the obsession with the Pink Monolith, thinking that they should have made another few full production models by now as the aging Diamond Monoliths were always said to be causing problems as of late. As far as everyone knew about the conferences presented, President Dot always does this thing with her presentations. Goes with the bad then with the good.

"No we haven't found it, but the good news is, thanks to an anonymous donator, we have a GIS ready and operational after testing. Its ability to track down things down will be second to none!"

Oh no...

"That can't be good." Said Ronaldo.

No it wasn't. He hoped the Ancillas were watching this.

"Do you think it'll find the Pink Monolith? I mean, a GIS willingly looking for a Superserver...Alien Tech on what most would suspect to be Alien Tech..."

It was still one of the greatest mysteries; the Ancillas hardly said much about it. The Superservers developed by PeriCom were held in great belief by the wider community to be Alien Tech in origin but the Company had always denied those accusations. Hackers like Connie and all that had tried to find out but always fell short of the software guarding their secrets. No proof of it so far was proof on its own; PeriCom were the only ones able to ever successfully reverse engineer Alien Tech for human consumption. Until recently...

"We've called it Jasper." President Dot continued.

"It will also assist in finding GIS hidden in the Domain and force them to work for us."

She did a double take.

"By force I mean willingly negotiate terms of their recruitment into the company as an asset."

Figures. They tried so hard to find them themselves but this was the first time they'd be able to get a GIS to work with them directly. Ronaldo was already doubting such claims.

"You know what I think." He said.

"The conspiracy of Alien Tech being the basis for the Monoliths...the Monoliths created the GIS in return and the three in existence simply wrote this...Jasper."'

They used Consensus....and ever since what Connie said it compared it self too made him shiver...and leading to the fact that the memory of him kissing her should have been unrelated, glitched out his form briefly.

"You're probably not far off." Steven told him, trying hard to scrub the idea from his mind.

They showed of the designs of the GIS in question, as President Dot mentioned that the GIS is a version II, a lot like Amethyst so this version should be able to be seen by regular humans roaming the Domain. She was big, bulky, orange with a lot of hair. Very similar to Amethyst's design of not for the colour. The other thing was that she requested civilians to please allow this Jasper GIS to investigate unimpeded, that is to say that if she asked you questions, you had to answer truthfully, or risk being fined...or worse.

"Connie better watch herself." Ronaldo warned.

"It won't be long until they have it hunting hackers too."

If Garnet and Pearls original hunt for Connie in the beginning served as a taste, who knows what this Jasper was capable of. Better yet, Steven hoped they would never cross paths. Speaking of which, Steven got an internal alert regarding a message...it was Connie. Part of him glitched again, not expecting anything from her right now. He still felt a bit iffy about what had transpired yesterday.

" _Steven can you come back home so we can talk?_ "

He looked up at Ronaldo with widened eyes, the man rubbing his chin over conspiracies that would randomly form inside his head. Some true, some just nuts.

"Uhh...I've gotta go...Connie wants to chat for some reason?" Steven said, unsure yet nervous.

Suddenly the mans manner changed as he gripped onto the couch.

"No, just say no bro." He said.

"She broke your heart! She's...in a relationship now...she wants you to move out and you can stay with me, you know that!"

Now that was being too assumptive...such a conspiracy obviously wasn't true. Connie would never.

"Or...maybe, maybe you can tell her you're gonna be busy with me today..."

What if she wanted to talk for another reason? 

"Actually I do need your help with something, now that I think about it."

He did?

"What's up?" Steven asked.

As it turned out, Ronaldo needed to test out the new hologram projectors. The device that once installed allowed Steven to roam freely around the room like he was actually there. It was more of a less something new with hard light projectors. Very expensive and very difficult to pull off indeed. Ronaldo had been working on prototypes like he did with the CPD but this required a lot more work and trial and error; especially with the physics side of things. Normal hard light projectors were insanely hard to get a hold of and even so, most of them constructed by PeriCom were only given to the mega corporations...but as with anything, Ronaldo was always able to find someone on the Black Market selling blue prints...or partial. Or fake.

So Connie would definitely understand...she could wait. So he ended up messaging her back that he'll chat with her later on.

She'll understand that, surely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Ronaldo ships Steven/Connie hard haha.


	10. Byte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven knows something is up.

Later that night, after much testing of the projectors, Ronaldo had planned to come around the next day to drop them off. Though Steven eventually fell to his original plan to head back home anyway, just to see what Connie wanted, perhaps interested if Steven knew anything about the new GIS. Appearing in the lounge, Steven could see Connie watching the tv, hunched over and replaying the sequence regarding the GIS PeriCom mentioned. Suspicions confirmed and the fact that he felt like he was being used for something crossed his circuits and a new unease had begun to form.

"You called?" He asked.

She appeared super focused and tense; fingers interlocking as it covered her mouth. The cyan light of the tv showed her features, glistening her eyes like sparkles. But it was all artificial, to the debate underneath the skin.

"This GIS." She said.

"I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it weird PeriCom suddenly got their hands on Alien Tech."

Definitely about work. Steven was willing to help out, but anything else. Maybe what Ronaldo said was right...

"No you're not." Steven confirmed.

Anything Alien Tech for them was like salvaged candy from a metaphorical baby.

"Good." She responded in sequestered relief.

"What about the Ancillas? Have they said anything?"

He hadn't even visited them yet, only coming to Connie in some bizarre way, shape or form in a bit of hope within him that she'll want to talk about what happened last night. In this case she thought he was a Super AI and had done everything in sequence like a static protocol he had to follow. There was a protocol in place but it wasn't strict. He didn't understand why Connie would think he was a hard drive for answers, when really, this whole issue caused much bedlam and out of the Domain if he looked up the news reports one either side.

"Nope, been testing stuff all day." Steven answered, rubbing the back of his head.

Her own protocol, focusing on work and nothing much else was more akin to a software coded to do its job but she obviously had her own bugs and kinks to work out. There were several sides to Connie, from Steven's observation and from Garnets brief outline. Connie's front, the professional. The deeper Connie was rash, abrasive and cocky. The one deeper in was kind and deeper still was a definite type of sadness Steven could not reach, as Connie did not want anyone to know the real her. Right now, she was hiding something from...and Steven would need to come to accept that Connie could do what she wanted...and needed to respect her decisions even if it caused him pain.

She ended up going to the fridge and brought out a beer, picked the lid off and practically glugged half the drink. It was a hot day and it didn't even look like she had a shower; her hair was a mess and her make up was smudged slightly. The issue was that the coding within Steven would not change what he ultimately felt for her. If he could just...

"Sounds fun." She said.

Not really. Speaking of fun.

"Did you have fun at your date?" He asked, feigning a smile himself.

She moved around to plop herself down on the couch again, before putting the drink on the coffee table and brought out her lighter and cigarette. Probably the only habit Steven didn't like out of all the other questionable consumables.

"Ehhh it was alright. The food was good." She said, though with the hint of apathy.

She sounded so...exhausted and done. If she was being serious about food, maybe he could order her dinner. His treat. For what comfort that could bring he wasn't sure.

"Oh okay. Maybe I can help. What do you want to eat?" He asked.

A snort was her reply, a grin popping up briefly before the sagging frown returned, taking another swill in the meanwhile.

"You tryin' something there Biscuit Boy?" Connie said in a way that would be counted as flirting, although Steven didn't really know much about it until recently...even when he was doing it, it was always unintentional.

Honestly though, for all the advice provided so far, the best he could within his control was just to be there for her. 

"Nothing more than seeing you a bit...worse for wear Berry Girl." He said

But he could always play...their normal banter would work. After all, it did lead into a giggle, which was what he was after.

"That bad huh?" Connie replied, inhaling.

"I should have a shower..."

* * *

Once she was done with her beer and her smoking, she did just that; taking her time in the Forbidden Zone that was the bathroom. The one area he was completely barred from. Steven went through several menus to determine the best place to order food from. He's done this before on multiple occasions but only because Connie on some days couldn't be half-assed to eat, her work taking priority over the fundamentals. Ever since their first double-jack, the desire to taste and understand what food taste like was a part of his life Steven looked forward to and honestly he found pizza to be the most...what was the word...appetising?

Once she was done, she came out in a white robe and her hair up twisted in a towel. By that point Steven had already ordered, knowing Connie liked classic pepperoni and Steven did too.

Once it had arrived, she got another beer and sat down on the couch as Steven stood next to her, silently wishing they could double jack. She decided to watch some random horror movie on tv, but she wasn't particularly fearful of the scary scenes; only pointing out the flaws in the story and the bad graphics of yesteryear and laughing at some of the more silly scenes and more disturbingly, some of the deaths. She had half eaten the pizza about half an hour into it and Steven was growing anxious as Connie would be more forthcoming in asking him if he wanted to double jack...this time, she never asked.

The pizza itself went cold as she put it in the fridge, looking sad and limp on the plate as she carelessly threw it in and slammed the door shut, but not before getting a third beer and slamming it on the bed side table. Reappearing on the bedside table, he watched as she belly flopped onto the bed, arms spread while her face sunk into the pillows as she groaned.

It was edging on almost 11:40 and the atmosphere in the room suddenly got tense.

"Did....did you want to go to bed?" Steven asked, awkwardly.

Connie tilted her head to the side and looked at him with a single half-lidded expression, the other half of her face smooshed into the pillow. She didn't open her mouth to express an answer, only looking at Steven with a face that he couldn't accurately as angry, sad or neutral. Eyes glinted in his pink light, with his assumption that she was busy processing something in her head but wasn't able to procure a single tangible thought to vocalise.

"I can leave if you want." He continued.

She could have wanted some alone time for all he knew. Alone time was an inconsistent event for reasons she never bothered to explain, only that Steven leave her be for a few hours, doing what ever she wanted on her lonesome. Steven could respect that...or maybe that's what she did want after all and was expecting Steven to be a mind reader.

"That's what you want..okay I'l-"

"No."

Process of elimination then. She didn't want him to leave. It frustrated him more than it he'd liked it to. She eventually pushed herself upwards and sat up right, sitting on her knees as she exhaled heavily.

"Steven...is there anything in your programming that allows you to....shut off certain emotions?"

Well, as an AI...

"There's protocols and safety algorithms in place just so we don't start glitching out." He answered.

"The Ancillas say that there's only the debug mode that can say, put a pause to them but that's normally administrative access only."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you would have access to your own code." She said.

It was a lot more complex than that.

"AI's function as a system with sentient like thought processes and that requires an emotional cortex to help influence certain decisions. To protect humans we need to have the feelings that allow us to do that. Dumb AIs only have specific requirements to be met in order to-"

She looked down in sadness as he begun to speak irrelevant jargon, forcing him to halt his explanation. She didn't want that.

"Admin access is usually a user input. AI's aren't allowed to alter their own codes. They can add their own subroutines and patches but not take away anything that makes up their programming. Or else we fall apart without them."

Nodding in understanding, Connie tapped her knee, looking to her side as she continued to find her own thoughts.

"Probably not looking at taking away anything..." She said.

"But merely, as you say, pause or suppress them."

Suppression temporarily was fine, but things start to happen when certain parts are suppressed. Some requests aren't necessarily going to break him, small modifications like voice or appearance were minor since that was probably the easiest parts to alter. It was generally anything to do with the mental aspects that gives AI's their personalities was said to be more harmful and subject to bugs if not done carefully.

"Humans have medication that allows us to alter our bodies, designed to...make us feel better. Short term, long term...and not all of them are good either." Connie explained.

"I...never mind."

Steven furrowed his brows and tried to connect the dots. Something was up. Her talk of emotions had him suspect an underlying cause this discussion all of a sudden.

"You can talk to me Connie." He said.

"I've always got open ears for you."

Rolling her eyes, Connie got up and went to her set of drawers. Her back was to him and all of a sudden she dropped her dressing gown, revealing all to him from behind. His pupils narrowed, it was kind of dark in the room save for the subtle blue glows from her work station on the right hand side and the lit up lamp sitting on on the black set of drawers and their warm orange glow. The twilight of blending colours marking out the sides of her body and brightening the curves of her form and her dark skin. Her dark went damp hair dropped behind her back. Steven swallowed unconsciously, unaware he'd been staring for a few moments before he realised what he was doing; hastily turning around and closing his eyes and putting his hands in front of them. She'd never done this before; baring it all (or half of it) without warning. Even now, the image itself was copied into his internal storage and erasing it became impossible. Talking about suppression of feelings; he had the idea she was doing this on purpose and the idea of the tease coming around it. She didn't confirm it, but it had always been in her nature to do so. This was perhaps, the most blatant of confusing messaging Steven had come across, not a single consensus being able to form a correct assessment as to her actions and their overall intent. 

Looking at himself, the betrayal of his own feelings came up with the idea of her broken promise and Ronaldo claiming that Connie forgetting was but a lie. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Connie was insanely hard to read at the best of times and as soon as Steven believed he had her figured out, a single assumption would be incorrect. Why couldn't she just be honest with him? Tell him how she really felt? He didn't want to be angry but the feeling was there, beneath the surface with everything else that would frustrate him and his own suppression, the lock and key to all that he couldn't process outright. Not in front of anyone, especially the Ancillas.

Not long after she was wearing her blue night gown that cut up half way up her thighs, with Steven turning back enough to allow him to peak through his fingers with one eye. Sighing with relief, she opened the doors to the balcony, the winds taking the thin curtains for a ride. Meanwhile Steven was stuck on the other side of the room, the maximum distance between the two. If only Steven could know the real feeling...his envies of humanities gift touch one of those things he's had to keep down. She didn't want to be human...and Steven...wanted to be.

All the double jacks proved his ambitions time and time again. There was such a beauty in unspoken and unwritten sensations from all the unique textures, tastes that he was only able to ever get simulated expressions from. The Domain could only get so much of it both right and wrong and every time Connie put something into her mouth...coffee, pizza and ice cream, Steven thrived on all the tiny aspects like temperature and the savoury and the sweet and what those provided the mind. The way Connie was satisfied from drinking beer or even from when she smoked. Harsh but he could sense the way it had her relax. 

A byte for a bite, in the end would be worth sacrificing.

Even...kissing her was something else. The idea was unique. The taste of another and Steven figured that's where it really started. Crossed wires or not, Steven had to admit to himself that he enjoyed it...and wasn't sure what he should do with that knowledge. Knowledge consumed that wasn't designed to be of any nutritional value was often discarded, but Steven held on...and was still holding on. 

Enough time spent outside had Connie come back in after several minutes and stand before the bed, looking at it with a dull voided expression. Steven still stood there, awkwardly as he tapped his fingers together.

"Is everything alright?" He asked.

She blinked, crossing her arms.

"No." She answered.

"Nothing is alright."

This was jarring...

"Want to talk about it?" Steven said, offering his ears yet again.

"I'm not going anywhere." 

A statement, a declaration that caused Connie to shrink into herself.

"I doubt you'd be able to understand." She warned.

Maybe he won't. It wouldn't matter. The Ancillas wouldn't be able to answer all of his questions either...they scarcely knew humans as it was. Hence why Steven was doing this. But they were, especially Garnet, always willing to listen to him and he appreciated their attempts to understand and give advice, (sometimes to unwanted results but they at least tried)

"Maybe I'm an AI designed to understand humans overall." He said...his true purpose in this world and for the Domain at large still unclear to this day.

"We've come this far and I've learned so much. I want to help any way I can."

Through their work and their overall friendship. It was the least he could do. Even if Connie didn't feel the same way as Steven once thought, he had to tell himself that preserving what they had was still special irregardless. So she slid herself back on the the bed, sitting on her knees as she shuffled herself towards the pillows, her form lit up by Steven's pink glow. She right as she huddled herself, rubbing her biceps with the opposite hands, like she was cold.

"Last night...it was fine...until..." She muttered, unable to look Steven in the eyes.

"I went back to his place."

Connie was...promiscuous to an extent as she admitted. Not afraid to put herself out there for the sake of their work but this was for a different purpose. Steven was told that outright...that some jobs just required that, a Connie compared his kiss to a more tame example.

"And I did...something shameful."

Steven furrowed his brows.

"Shameful?" He said, perplexed.

Her shoulders hunched upwards as she grew more uncomfortable.

"We...were having fun...and then...I kinda..."

A face going red...shame...or embarrassment? 

"It's a weird thing to try to explain to you..."

Steven knew it was Sex. Steven understood sex and what it was for and what it could do. Perhaps not all the intricacies but he had obtained enough data for variable sources. But as she whacked the blanket with her fists in frustration and growled, Steven knew this wasn't good.

"I'm still listening. Explain it to me anyway." He said with assurance.

Connie bit her lip, the furrowing of her brows brief but noticeable.

"I kinda called him a name."

Kinda...called him a name? A nickname? That didn't seem so bad.

"But...it wasn't his name."

Oh?

"Who's was it?" Steven queried.

By this stage Connie looked extremely anxious, shaking as she clenched fists. Connie was not known to be that anxious so whom ever it was must have been pretty damning.

"...I...I can't say." She said with an uncharacteristic stutter and audible fear.

"So we...were lying there...his eyes wide open in shock and I knew I fucked up. He knew I fucked up..."

Why would calling him another name be so bad? Was it an offensive name?

"He didn't say anything...but I left his place shortly after...and..."

Tears rolled down her face quicker than Steven realised.

" _Fuck...._ "

She was right, Steven didn't understand it. But he wanted to....he had to learn that such implications that had Connie distressed might educate him in what to avoid to hurt others feelings...if it ever got to that point of course.

"You going to see him again?" He asked, not realising how naive the question.

And angry Connie responded in turn.

"Of fucking course not!" She cried.

"Not after that stunt! We had a genuine interest and I fucked up a chance to try and..."

Try and?

Implications for something...else? An agenda that Connie had been trying to to pursue? Or maybe Steven was looking too far into it, like always.

"If I knew how bad it was gonna end up, perhaps I would have fucking preferred to listen to you play your fucking dumbass music..."

Steven's eyes widened. Surely she didn't mean it like that, but it still hurt.

"Connie..." He said...the hurt itself beginning to spread.

She shook her head and throw herself into the pillow, her shrieks muffled yet loud. Forcing her head up she gave Steven a hefty glare with faintly bloodshot eyes.

"Fuck...go back to Ronaldo...just...I've had enough." Connie said, exhausted.

"You have no solution to this...no reason to be here...what a fucking mistake this turned out to be."

He was hurt by that just as much...but something told Steven she didn't really mean that either. Why this was, he couldn't pin point. This aggression wasn't unknown in her, but she was simply upset by the ordeal, her distress blatant by this incident. But he hated how he couldn't comfort her, if he could just...hold her.

"I'm sure you didn't mean it." He told her, in attempt to help her anyway he could.

"Besides, there's a lot of guys out there who don't mind being called by another name!"

Words that had Connie snort at out how ridiculous that sounded. Steven didn't get the joke, but otherwise smiled anyway, perhaps, that unintentionally amused her in a strange way that he couldn't define.

"I'm sure you enjoy being called Biscuit-Boy." She told him with this disturbing smirk on her face.

He shrugged. It was a nickname, born of an insult, raised to the point of affection. Or so he thought.

"No more than you enjoy being called Berry-Girl." Steven stated in response.

"But I do it out of our respective bond. A token of respect and our own personal titles to each other."

Another set of words that had her chuckle and sit up to lean on her side. His eyes dashed to the way she positioned herself, her head leaning into her hand as her eyes pierced into him.

"An AI addressing me with his opinion of what he deems is...his to own." She said...again with the soft, flirty addition.

AIs can't technically own anything. Majority of the populace wouldn't address them as individuals...believing them to be objects and not being real. Steven had seen forums go into that debate constantly. Between those who should respect AIs for their service to the Domain and others whom just don't think they should be counted as people...only those with flesh and blood to be considered that which existence in reality...people and things they can touch.

"I don't consider owning it...it's just our connection object." He said.

"Our node as you will. Our PoD (Point of Delivery)."

Connie lifted her chin as her finger tips danced across her cheek. 

"Those can be deleted; made extinct." She said.

"You warrant the threads of our relationships to be shreds of data correlating to a single thread between us?"

Not exactly. No. What would be considered the point of contention to her if it ended being that, however.

"Not anything more than calling Ronaldo Fry-boy...its more than the status of our allegiances...its the status of our friendships."

How he came to believe that was just what Steven had come across in his life, like the Ancillas and his relationships with them. Of mutual benefit and more.

"Then you might be right on the mark about being an AI designed to understand humanity." She acknowledged.

"You are....complex."

So he'd been told. As was the nature of all AI's. They had to be in order to be efficient on their jobs; their design and function meant to adapt to the ever changing and growing nature of the Domain.

"The only issue is that there is also the facetious core of it all. You'll never be truly able to encompass the human experience."

But what about...

"The Domain's Physics Engines and Double-Jacking. Temporary. You need a longer term variant. Years...decades...from cradle to the grave. The PoDs of humanity are ever changing. An AI's can never change."

But Steven felt things change over time. He couldn't properly understand how or why, but if that's the case where he was made to simulate the human experience overall, then he was supposed to change.

"Then what am I for, Connie?" He questioned.

"Years I've spent looking for answers and spent with the Ancillas I've found nothing but dead ends and avoiding PeriCom because they told me so."

Words that had Connie ponder deeply.

"I can't answer that Steven." She said.

"An AI questioning his purpose in the world...however, is much more in line with humans trying to find their place. Needing to be lost before they could be found."

How does that even make sense?

"But it begs the other issue...they told you to avoid PeriCom yet you can't find the truth. Have you considered looking into PeriCom irregardless of what they say?"

The thought crossed his mind, he's just never been able to action it. The fear instilled into him by the Ancillas had him avoiding direct contact with respective employees, especially with they have top tier tech in their midst made it much more harder for him to investigate anyway. The risks involved, just weren't worth it. Instead, finding bounties for Rogue GIS was more beneficial in the long run in that respect. But now with this new GIS Hunting GIS around, it would make that statement quite the paradox.

"I've wanted to. The Ancillas won't help me though." He said, solemn.

Connie groaned.

"You don't need the Ancillas." She said.

"Better to find contacts within PeriCom that won't rat you out for being an AI. Better yet, pretend you're an Avatar. There are actually some dodgy employees I've gone to for information. They're not exactly high on the food chain, but have given breadcrumbs for juicy details. I recommend starting small and inconspicuous....even sussing out that Jasper GIS, I'd be happy with anything regarding that surprise."

Steven wasn't great on espionage...which is why he needed Connie on that count. Getting herself and him in tricky places. That Glass Factory was proof enough of their first full blown successful GIS hunt. They worked well together. Steven was about to question more, but then realised Connie was still dodging in regards to talking about herself by going into work again. A comforting place for her personally, when throwing herself into the details of specifics. She always did this and it wasn't until now that he noted that it was habit. A habit in trying to deflect other important subjects.

"Yeah I'll get to that." He said.

"But enough about work. There's gotta be something I can do for you Connie. You being upset was never my aim. I tried helping with the pizza and I've tried not letting your angry words get to me as I know you well enough by now that when you get like this, the insults and curses flow out like water."

She shifted herself around to have her back to him in response.

"There's....nothing..." She replied.

"I'll learn to shut off the pain my own way...so you don't have to put up with it."

He never said he didn't want to put up with it. Her aggression could be toned down but he wasn't annoyed by it that much. They'd spent so much time together that he knew it was part of her character. The only thing that bothered him was her broken promise to listen to him play the Ukulele. Her calling it dumbass music, however...he wasn't sure if he was supposed to take that seriously. If she was, then he wasn't going to bother. If she wasn't, then he was more than happy to consider playing for her now.

"Connie, I'll put up with anything if it means you find happiness." He assured her.

"If there's anything I learned with the Ancillas, is the ability to listen."

It gave her pause, although she did bring her knees up to her chest and didn't notice her sorrowful look on her face as she tried not to burst into tears.

"What does an AI know about being happy?" She questioned.

She was doing it again. They were having another one of these conversations.

"Enough." Steven answered, being blunt this time. He's seen her smile and heard her laughter that filled him with a warm, fuzziness that taught him that. Though, grasping on the more obvious problems at play, Steven wasn't that dumb to realise the downsides. Because part of him wanted to address it, but technically arrangements as they were didn't make for a plausible plan for execution as he would like it to be.

"I...I know I can't meet all of your needs. You've been throwing that in my face for months and I do what I can because..."

Should he really say the words aloud? If he had been human, he would be blushing right about now.

"You've been meeting mine. It just doesn't seem right that you give me everything and I give you so little in return."

Another snicker.

"You're not at naive I thought you were." Connie acknowledged. A frown then adorned her face as sat back up by pushing herself upright, but her back still towards him.

"But it's not about meeting needs. It's about understanding them."

Was it?

"You crave things humans do." She continued.

"However, there's a difference in between what you need and what you want and how to learn the difference. In my opinion, if you care for it, is that you want what the humans want. But is it really what you need?"

A concept Steven never considered. Understanding both, was apparent to be the case.

"Not only that, you understand what you want. Is it what you really need however..."

He hadn't processed as much as he thought it did.

"I dunno." Steven stated.

"I mean...I don't think...what is the difference?"

Turning around to him again had her radiance before him, a separate type of confidence she ooze and yet, her posture was soft and neutral.

"A humans basic needs; eating, drinking, sleeping and safe place to live. AI's don't have the same requirements us flesh and blood mortals do. You don't grow old and die...you could die from deletion I imagine but technically you're immortal." She answered.

Steven found stuff like drinking and eating quite enjoyable any time he double jacked with her. Sleeping was a bit on the fence for him but otherwise he felt safe with Connie at least. The Temple was a safe place too. And Ronaldo's.

"A want...the heart decides for us and confuses our needs alongside them. I want that beer or I want that packet of smokes. A desire for that which to get your hands on. You could feel like you're gonna die without it but technically it's impossible. You're just a consumer..."

Was it bad to want over needing then? Because that was the message Steven was getting.

"So I've been confusing needs and wants all this time?" He questioned.

Connie shrugged.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." She said. 

"Some lines blur."

He could see why. But then it begged the question.

"So...can I ask what you want then?" 

One that had Connie swallow hard, reluctant to answer truthfully as she looked away, putting her index to her mouth and lightly biting it briefly, rising a sharp hiss from her mouth.

"The impossible." She said.

"Stuff that if I had the power to change the situation then I would...but...I need to accept the fact that I'm not gonna get it but it stings so bad."

So she wants to suppress her emotions to stop that sting. What would be impossible to claim for it be like that? Her just living in the Domain as she had mentioned a few times before? Was that all it was?

"Which is why I'm asking you to go live with Ronaldo from now on. I need...yes it is a need....time to think on my own for a while....and I have to be as far away from you...from people..."

Surely Steven could go with her. He didn't have a problem with leaving to go somewhere especially if she felt like she needed to be alone. Surely she also needed people to be in contact with. And she can't leave...Steven still needed her help too.

"Is it because of the calling the guy another name thing?" He questioned.

Connie looked away as she squinted in contemplation.

"Partially." She replied.

"Because being human means how incredibly flawed we all are. The way we feel is...just wrong. I just wish there was either a way to control how we feel or just...erase them altogether."

The definition of a machine would that which had no thoughts, feelings and wasn't anything more than a tool most of the time, designed for a reason.

"I mean there is but when it's so bad you find nothing works you..." Connie paused, to rub her face." ...never mind..."

No. He _did_ mind. If Steven found a way to kick those emotions out of her head then he would hunt down those ways any way he could. It was the least he could to stop her from being stuck in such torment.

"Just.. _.leave_..."

He had to keep trying.

"Connie pl-"

"FUCKING HELL STEVEN JUST.. _ **.LEAVE**_!"

The terrifying look of anger on her face definitely had Steven stricken to his core. He didn't want to go. He felt awful in doing so, being that he so desperately wanted to help her...but Connie was so desperate in pushing others away...only trusting so few within her circle. Her breathing became laboured and more uncontrolled tears fell down her cheeks. No matter what she might think, he will come back at some point.

"Okay...I will." He said reluctantly.

"But...you know where to find me if you need me."

He turned his back to her...and left the confines of her grid and back to the Domain. Connie, meanwhile, went back to shoving her face into a pillow and crying her eyes out and cursing incoherently through muffled muttering until she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know exactly what happened.


	11. Broker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven wants to look into Connie's History, but getting the information isn't easy.

Steven had gone to Ronaldo's only to respect Connie's wishes. Whether or not she was being overly emotional, he'd give her the space she needed to sort herself out. As Ronaldo worked on the projectors, he was surprised by the story Steven told him about the previous night and offered his insight on the issue, which would assist in Steven understanding why it was considered horrible. Working on a circular pad on the work table as he indulged Steven with what he knew.

"I'm not exactly an expert on that on a personal basis, but I've seen enough..." He said, making an aside glance. "Stories to know that calling someone else by another name during the act has dire implications."

Humans were weird, but this was important. Ronaldo finished up on his work as he went back to sit on his computer chair, heading to his pc to write in more code.

"What does it meant though?" Steven asked, desperate to know.

Ronaldo sighed, before leaning back with his hands behind his head with his chair squeaking from the shift of the weight.

"That's easy..they're probably thinking about that person. That individual is stuck in Connie's head and she's probably cursed to see every potential partner as this person. I've seen it happen in anime....um...the more...obscure ones."

So someone was embedded into her head...and going from what she was saying about trying to erase feelings...it had Steven assume she was just trying to forgot them...and how she felt about them. Why didn't he get the picture beforehand?

"She said it's impossible for her to achieve in...obtaining this...so she thinks its better to not feel it anymore."'

Ronaldo nodded, then hummed as he rubbed his chin. A character that wasn't exactly emotional, but sentimental and insightful towards a select amount of characters both factual and fictional.

"A definite cause for concern. I suggest watching your step around her from now on." He suggested.

Had he not so far?

"You know when I was helping you search for potentials for this little goal of yours, Berrybyte was a name given to me by a contact as one of their first recommendations but did warn me about her behaviour and the fact in her picking it up to begin had to be presented as 'interesting' and 'worth her time." Ronaldo said with the respective finger quotes.

"Her name is Pat-Risha. She frequently roams the Domain as a Data Broker. If anyone knows about Berrybytes past, it's her."

Steven considered the issue in delving too much into information he's not supposed to come across unless Connie herself had mentioned it. Maybe her schedules, but that's as far as it really went...and her favourite foods and toppings. The small stuff he figured would make her happy. As for the contact, he's heard of her on the cyber-vines but not much else.

"Won't Connie get angry that I'm digging up info behind her back?" Steven questioned.

Ronaldo took his thickshake from the corner of the bench and slurped through the straw before putting it down.

"You should know her better than anyone...I mean, I thought you would have by now." Ronaldo stated.

"Some Boyfriend Material you are."

That's not what he was getting at. What was considered Boyfriend Material, anyway?

"But that's besides the point. If you want, I'll message Pat up. Give her your details if that's what you think you should do."

He wanted to make Connie happy, not pry into parts she would never want him to see. Curiosity was said to be a human trait, not necessarily one demonstrated by AIs but he had it anyway. Retribution he figured, would be swift if it lead him down that road and she had seen him, seen her, in a way she would prefer others to never sight for themselves. Steven would have to swear to secrecy on his terms but if her attitude as of late was any indicator that finding out said secrets would destroy Connie more than it would hurt Steven. Data Brokers held power with information themselves; using it as their very trade. This, Pat...he's heard the name on forums and the like, but no one that stood out to Steven the most.

"Do you think that it will help Connie?" Steven wondered.

Ronaldo shrugged.

"Depends. Information in this day and age must serve a purpose or else it's useless. People like digging up the treasure of dirty laundry for the purposes of blackmail...though you won't be using Connie's history as that. Unless I've been reading into your ambitions wrong this entire time."

Only to help her. Nothing more. And he didn't wish to deal with Connie's dirty laundry...she could do that herself.

"No I just think she needs something...what that something is I have no idea." Steven said.

"She can play the violin but all that does is make her sad."

Ronaldo nodded and scratched his head.

"Music; that normally is a great way to woo women...to serenade them with the right notes..." He said with a just regalness and pride.

Yet that didn't work. Steven never had the opportunity to play for her.

"That's not gonna work." Steven told him.

A dilemma that was gonna get nowhere fast. Contradictions and paradoxes and Connie herself was a labyrinth Steven couldn't hack to get through. If he took Ronaldo's word and suggestion...

"But fine...I'll talk to the contact."

* * *

It didn't take long, as Ronaldo quickly went to work and messaged this Pat character. Data Brokers that Steven has come across, using their powers for good or evil for the sake of getting above others in status. Value embedded in words and numbers to acquire more than they needed. Taking advantage of other people was what Steven disliked the most.

Going back into the domain, Steven could see the brick work of the coffee shop that was most frequented by Pat filled with a wooden interior and its plants. Heading on inside he could see the hub of avatars and Dumb AI's at the counter. Its design said to be an aesthetic choice rarely found in Mega Beach City as a whole; the gritty atmosphere of most of the places Connie had ever visited were less lively and more dank than this place. Why Connie would never bring him here was beyond him...

Eyes scanned for the contact; eventually seeking the one in the pink hijab with the pink peach pattern sitting on a stool by the window. He took the stool next to her and examined her she was busy stuck in on her screen.

"Pat-Risha right?" He asked.

Looking at him, she was of dark skin like Connie. Softer than he anticipated but he's learned more than once that appearances could be deceiving. She looked at him up and down in his casual, daily gear and seemed quite surprised.

"You're the one looking into Berrybytes deep web..." She said.

"So you're Steven the AI huh? Your name spreads far but the face doesn't match up to the rumours."

He's known here and there...

"The shell does it's job well I'm told." Steven told her.

"I'm glad you get the message."

The woman nodded. An AI as complex as Steven had the advantage of appearing and acting human to the point one could easily forget that he was as such. His name spread from the work he did for others but he hardly ever showed himself directly to clients.

"Yes, yes when Ronaldo said someone was looking into Berrybyte it gave me the shivers. People don't look for Berrybyte unless they're willing to pay well for her services. But at the right price I'm able to tell you what I know about her."

He was prepared to spend what he could for the knowledge gained.

"Tell me...what do you plan to do with the knowledge I provide?"

It had a purpose to assist. Nothing sus about this line of work...to generate the idea of where Connie had come from and where he might be able to find her good side to....

"Connie's...troubled." He admitted.

"She's been...acting strange."

Pat snorted, her eyes tracing the simulated clouds in the Domain Sky.

"Berrybyte's always been the moody one." She told him.

"A lone wolf that's never been able to find relief or escape."

Steven dived into his hard drive to find that Connie had sought to live in the Domain forever. A version of escape for what reasons that they argued about multiple times. Pat projecting a small screen from the crystal in the palm of her hand, scrolling through texts and occasionally, a picture of Connie would pop up, though underneath the text would have her appear younger and more innocent...like the dream he found himself in.

"I create profiles of my clients in order to better understand them." She said.

"I don't sell the profiles; it lets me know their order history and their roles. The information I gather comes from a variety of sources. Data Brokers seek and trade information with each other with the Lucidity System; if you are a Data Broker, we can give each other clientele's details so it lets them better understand them."

So there's a database out there the Brokers like to use but mostly for their customers? Steven didn't seem to like that. Made it seem that they were untrustworthy...and what would happen if the client list got leaked out? Scandals that's what.

"I sincerely hope that list is encrypted." He told her, leaning across the bench and eyeing off with suspicion.

Pat just smirked.

"We can trust each other." She said.

"There's a fundamental stature to all of this...rules as Brokers we must abide. The profile I have created for Connie only goes through her background and not her dealings with me. So I can sell some information, just not everything."

This just made Steven all the more suspicious. Sounded like there were a few loopholes in this so called system of theirs.

"But to answer your question, the answer is yes. Highly encrypted. And I'm willing to exchange the information for a particular price, if you're willing."

What it ever took.

"I'm after the data inside the GIS Cabinet at Ronaldo's place."

How did...Did Ronaldo tell her about it?

"Messing with GIS stuff doesn't sound like a good idea." Steven warned.

Pat chuckled.

"You're an AI and you're tell me to be worried about your own kin?" She said.

Technically not really kin but...

"I don't know if you know Steven about that new GIS PeriCom unleashed...but..."

The Jasper program.

"A lot of people are so intrigued about how they finally got their dirty hands on Alien Tech. That stuff is worth a fortune."

As so it was well known.

"It has many talking and if I can have a portion of the code or anything that the GIS is willing to 'provide' is gonna have the market mad for that info."

She had to be mad herself, surely.

"That GIS is dangerous." Steven said, uncomfortable with this conversation.

"She was intentionally causing harm and if she escapes into the Domain properly...people are gonna have a bad time."

Pat sipped her coffee, her form not phased by Steven's petty concerns. 

"Unless you're gonna find another GIS in the vastness of the Domain and its trove of secrets, I suggest you figure out a solution to that tiny problem."

No data, no helping Connie. Steven was at a loss. Unless...

"Of course! I can use the Ancillas!" He said slamming his hand down into the others in realisation.

"I'm sure they've got dozens of things they could share."

Pat raised an eyebrow and adjusted her specs.

"You know the Crystal Ancillas?" She queried, sceptical.

Steven nodded. Why didn't he think of that earlier? It'd be so much easier.

"Yeah they're a cool bunch." He acknowledged with a grin.

"They're here to protect the Domain."

That was information Pat knew already, but this AI, this Steven being linked to them as perhaps, an alliance of sorts definitely had her interest. The Ancillas were rumoured to be extremely powerful GIS that live in the Grid but agreed to be off-limits to those who knew better. PeriCom had never made any comment about their apparent existence but as far as Pat had discovered they had known...just never spoke about them publicly. A subject of controversy in the known communities within Mega Beach City, but the respect gained from their protectiveness over this specific grid especially when it came to GIS that were never accounted for by PeriCom, raised a lot of questions.

Really, PeriCom were on the hunt for them but other than their skills and powers, could never hope to capture them. With Jasper now roaming the Domain, however, the balance of power was shifted and Pat had to make sure she was constantly in the loop to protect her stance and position as a Data Broker. Evidence pointed towards the Ancillas identities but tangible proof was never able to captured; only general word of mouth and conjecture. The search for the truth was extremely difficult due to their evasiveness and cautious masking of tracks. They held no 'paperwork' in the Domain so tracing them was next to impossible. With their ambitions with Jasper, however...it could amount for that general status quo to change significantly if it ever manages to find other GIS and reprogram them to serve the corporation; and eventually find the Pink Monolith Superserver.

Steven; a name Pat had heard of but never thought too much about. AI's weren't the most common bunch and his programming seemed more sophisticated at most. Dumb AI's were considerably common in the Domain as for the more diverse types they were scarcely seen, running the scenes to keep the Domain from cracking at the seams. So Steven being here, a being no different in expression to any Avatar she's come to meet and serve, had her wonder, what his true purpose in the Domain really was.

Stirring the half drunken remnants of her coffee with the stick, her mind made connections to new ideas, forming a considerable thread that would still work out in her favour.

"You're quite chummy with the Ancillas then?" She asked.

Steven nodded.

"I'm sure they have loads to provide. I get what you need from them and I get what I need from you. Sound fair?"

Pat grinned, shaking Steven's hand.

"Deal."

* * *

"No deal."

As soon as Steven arrived at the Ruins, he requested info from them that Pearl vehemently denied.

"Oh come on Pearl, I need something...anything to give to the Data Broker. Doesn't have be anything massive....just...something about GIS."

They came to protect secrets but even this was over the top.

"Data Brokers only care about their pockets." Pearl argued, crossing her arms as she looked Steven with displeasure.

Sighing, Steven felt dejected from Pearls decline.

"What's so bad about sharing the information then?" He wondered.

Garnet was standing there by the wall, observing, like she always did.

"GIS have inherent programming blocks from prevent our code from being discovered so easily." Pearl continued.

"Even if they could, they'll find our encryption far more advanced than anything of a humans design."

Amethyst sat there as well, more amused by Steven's ambitions as to the real reasons he needed the data.

"But PeriCom have the Jasper Program now." The smaller purple GIS stated.

"She's like me; a Generation II...did they figure out how to reverse engineer us in any way?"

A good question that no one was able to answer.

"It is suspicious that PeriCom acquired the Jasper GIS out of thin air." Garnet stated.

"I've never seen anything of her like within the Domain before. But it isn't uncommon that PeriCom have said to have 'found' things in the past."

The idea of her being slotted into the Domain with a Alien Tech Cabinet was a theory Ronaldo had. She was found or made by them and inserted as thus. It was the only explanation...but like the Lapis GIS, where they got it from was a great mystery. Though peeking back to the conversation with Connie about Consensus it had him putting other pieces together.

"What about the Kindergarten then?" Steven put forth.

"A Consensus being made that produced a willing GIS that didn't go rogue for once?"

Garnet frowned and hummed.

"Or they've finished fleshing out the details for the Gen IIs. Jasper is the full product."

After much tweaking. It was hard to say since no one knew the real location of the Kindergarten. The Ancillas state that the Machine itself was in an area where they didn't even know where it would be, but access to those systems themselves required utilising all the Monoliths. The Pink one had been used but for Gen IIs took a little while longer to develop as per what Garnet had predicted. It had Steven surmise the GIS before him and their roles within the Domain itself.

Garnet; the Leader of the Crystal Ancillas. She herself is what is known as the Oracle GIS. She's able to predict the actions of others based on the bias. The more information she knows about an individual, allows her to form a bias about those individuals. Her observing is collecting the data and processing the information in a way that allows her to get a percentage of accuracy towards actions about to be committed. Other predictions allow her to see certain paths and their value and intake with the roads presented. This information was used to help find Steven, an unknown program at the time that she could see his vast quantity of data hidden in the Domain somewhere.

Pearl; the Lieutenant, so to speak. Her role was coded to be a Debugger GIS. Using the information provided by Garnet as well as Amethyst's Acquisitions she's able to form suggestions and make action on their plans. She's able alter or add code on the fly and does what she can to ensure the security of her fellow Ancillas as well as Steven. She was the one who found Steven on his lonesome in the early days on Garnets suggestion and took him back to the Obsidian Ruins to figure out his complex programming and determined he was an AI and had altered/patched his fickle code to a more stable composition.

Amethyst, the Gen II GIS. Found roaming the Domain on her own accord, glitched and bugged until Pearl saved her. Pearls skills in alteration code saved Amethyst in a way that allowed them to use her as their Spy Asset. The combination of being a Gen II GIs mixed with numerous patches had her quite unique; not necessarily of many disadvantages and her intermingling with humans within the Domain helps both Garnet and Pearl with important details they need on their missions. She wasn't a Data Broker persay, but very similar in terms the collection process in a more sneaky way.

and then...Steven himself. His history only displaying between not existing and suddenly existing with no aim or purpose in mind. His mystery laid in his unknown past but had demonstrated unique abilities and mastery of general AI command subroutines. His usual request for them to get him the stuff he needed to expand the outside world were mostly given to him by Amethyst because of the three, she wanted him to succeed in his goals the most. All that was irrelevant however...

Right now, he wanted to figure out Connie's past to figure her out overall.

"Look, if I don't get what the Data Broker wants then I will need to resort to going into the Lapis Cabinet." He warned.

Pearl was, of course, beside herself.

"You will absolutely not." She scolded with a firm tone.

"A Rogue GIS that poses a threat is best left dormant as long as it needs to. I don't want that thing connected to the Domain at all!"

Steven frowned.

"Bu-"

"No buts about it!" She said.

"That's our final decision Steven, I'm sorry but it's not worth the risk."

* * *

Heading back to Ronaldo's, he sighed as he appeared from the CPD. Ronaldo himself was on the chair playing a game when Steven projected himself.

"So I take it the sigh means you weren't successful?" He said.

Steven shrugged.

"Pat said she needs GIS info and the Ancillas won't give me anything..." He complained, then look at the Lapis Cabinet in the corner of the room.

"Pearl doesn't want to hook Lapis up to the Domain either."

Ronaldo raised an eyebrow as she turned to clamp his hands on the top of couch as his knees went into the chair, looking at Steven with his guile smirk.

"You don't have to connect to the Domain to connect to the Cabinet." He said.

"Cabinets have their own mini-Grid like...well, Grids. You've enough space to fit several smart AIs or GIS into it and have your own party."

Really?

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Steven queried, a bit irritated.

Ronaldo rubbed his chin.

"You wanted it Dormant, remember?"

Oh yeah. That was true.

"Of course." Steven acknowledged.

"But if you can hook me up, I suppose as long as its a hard wire connection with no wi fi, then it should pose not risk right?"

Giving no less than an hour, Ronaldo quickly made an adaptor for the CPD to link into the Cabinet. He installed a special firewall for safety precautions into the adaptor itself before inserting the cable into a designated slot. The Cabinet itself was Alien Tech but Ronaldo was an expert in reverse engineering that he could, well, ironically adapt himself, his mastery of hard ware second to none. Steven himself felt anxious, but otherwise confident that technically, no they were not hooking up to the Domain. A Private of all private Grids. Pearls griping need for safety mechanisms rubbed off on Steven, his own paranoia insisting Ronaldo do what he could do protect Steven from any attempt at escape by Lapis herself.

Once connected, all it required was Ronaldo to flip a big white switch followed by a small black one. Steven's hologram gave him a confident thumbs up, so Ronaldo flipped big white switch to activate the Cabinet...

"GIS has been awakened." He announced.

"Steven AI upload beginning in three, two one..."

Clicking the black one had Steven's hologram disappear as all that was envisioned was a blue tunnel, diving into the unknown parts of the suspicious construct.

* * *

Once inside, all Steven could see was a blue clouded atmosphere with gold flecks scattered everywhere. He was in his default skin, floating in the unstructured grid as he called out to Lapis.

Eventually he detected a sign as his sensors detected a loading form next to him. In the matter of floating blue pixels had the form of Lapis. Eyes closed until her shell had finished loading. She gasped and looked at her hands, before noticing Steven before her.

"You." She said, confused and angry by his presence.

Closing her eyes, she attempted to filter her way around to get an understanding of where she was.

"Hmm...you've awoken me yet I'm stuck in my own server. No connection to the Domain at all. Which means you want to use me for something."

A bold analysis.

"I just need information." He said.

"There's a new GIS that's been....found or made by PeriCom. Do you know anything about it?"

Lapis laughed, amused by Steven's attempt to gauge it all from her and better yet, hold a perception that him believe that she knew anything about it.

"Me? Know any GIS?" She chuckled.

"Please...GIS like me? Our only purpose was to allow ships of information to be transported freely and safely through the Domain. 100 percent upload, 100 percent download...fragment by fragment to be escorted."

Interesting.

"Like, with everything?" He asked, scratching his head.

Lapis rolled her eyes.

"Not everything." She said.

"Data Packets that drifted from Mega Grid to Mega Grid. The huge data packets. Insignificant AIs like yourself usually dealt with the smaller trash. We're what you call what you theoretically see when you go into the LEGNs (Last Edge Grid Nodes, often pronounced as leggins) and come out on the other side."

Grids that were few and far in between required the use of special satellites that allowed Grids to connect to each other, like Mega Beach City to Mega Empire City or to Mega Ocean Town etc. Data Packets like regular AIs or encrypted programs that were considered critical, valuable, massive and/or necessary had to be protected and ensured every little bit travelled safely. Steven hadn't travelled outside of the MGCG so he's never had the chance to meet a Lapis before. He doubted anyone would have been able to.

"So Lapis GIS live in Satellites?" He wondered.

Lapis nodded.

"You never see us because we're normally up in space." She confirmed.

So why was she here on Earth?

"But yes I can see it in your eyes. Why is a Lapis stuck in a Server Cabinet?"

She could read him quite well too. Perhaps they could help each other.

"I can help you Lapis." He said.

"I can...get you entry into the Domain an-"

She shook her head.

"No." She said.

"I do not want to go into the Domain. I'd rather be deleted than to go back in there."

So she was so afraid to go in there because of all the stuff she had said about the Domain falling apart, her distrust of her makers and humanity in general.

"Then what do you have to lose by not sharing things with me? We can put you back to sleep once we're done." He stated.

The GIS growled in frustration.

"You don't get it." She cried.

"I'm not working with anyone. But if you must know what happened...there was an accident."

Now they were getting somewhere.

"Start it from the top..." Steven said.

Lapis went into detail about how she was one of thousands of Satellites that circled the Earth. The Satellites designs and purposes to process vast quantities of data were ailing with age. Then one day, someone had the idea to install special cabinets into the satellites themselves. Made by a long extinct company, they were purchased by PeriCom around the same time the Monoliths were being developed but they used another subsidiary to deal with the general use of the Satellites. Suddenly, Lapis was in existence, aware of her purpose and had been doing her job for a long time. One day, the Satellite had fallen out of orbit and crashed onto the Earth where her server was miraculously still functional, despite the damage. She had since ventured into the Domain itself, trying to figure what to do next....until she was met with a stranger, an Avatar or GIS or AI...she wasn't so sure. But they gave her the new purpose of stealing data under her GIS functional taglines. Her executable and extension code were obscured by this mysterious individual, presumably a hacker so she could appear as anything to protect her identity. No wonder she went so unnoticed for so long.

"What went wrong?" He queried further.

"I grew tired of them using me." She said, fatigue in her voice.

"I felt the need to forge my own path and that seeing the state of the Domain...and the stolen data itself was basically the unpublished report by PeriCom about the deteriorating state of the Domain."

Woah...really?

"Do you still have that report?" He wondered, a new focus hinging on this grappling piece he had to claim.

Lapis turned her back to him, her Kernel Core in full view on her back.

"I do." She said.

"I keep thinking about it...and you should probably read it yourself. If you want to do some damage..."

No...no he didn't. PeriCom normally withheld information that served to be detrimental to their status in the public eye. This was huge. There were always the tiniest signs of things not being completely right, even if PeriCom kept stating everything was fine...there were always ongoing issues that required patches or server updates. An ongoing battle for stability in the Virtual World.

"And the one who...used you...you took the report from them I imagine." Steven continued.

"What happened to them?"

Lapis lifted her head as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Don't know...don't care." She said.

"I stole what they considered was most precious and never looked back."

So this...individual sought this report and Lapis took it. Concerning to say the least, but this was perfect. Pat certainly had to accept this for sure. She turned around and summoned the file; a floating blue icon of pixel paper and handed it to Steven in the palm of her hand.

"Take it. Who you share it to, I don't have the capacity to care right now. Just...turn me off...please..."

Steven was hesitant...hearing Lapis' story had him worried...perhaps the many, many Lapis Satellite up there wondering where their fellow GIS went. Or not...if all Lapis were like this. Her melancholy and acceptance of the end arriving soon was jarring to what Steven was used to, but nevertheless still appreciated Lapis' talking to him anyway. Floating towards her, he took the file and put it away, preparing his exodus out of the Server.

"I promise to make the Domain a safe place to live without fear." He said to her.

"It's not right that many should have to suffer for PeriComs mistakes."

Lapis snickered.

"If you say so...geez have humans also found a way to insert their arrogance into their software? Wait...don't answer that."

Steven smiled. He could live to impress if he could.

"I know you don't trust anyone right now." He said.

"But you can definitely trust me."

Lapis started to fade away as Steven began to leave.

"If you say so."

* * *

Exiting the Server Cabinet and shutting off shortly after, Steven spoke with Ronaldo with what he had found.

"Wait, incriminating evidence that the Domain is falling apart?" Ronaldo said with surprise.

He had Steven put back into the CPD stand as Ronaldo paced around the room, trying to understand what Steven was telling him.

"Wow...this is..."

He stopped as he turned to Steven.

"You're really gonna sell that to Pat?"

He has to, if he's going to help Connie. It might also push a new investigation into light. Giving the Domain a chance to thrive instead of being on the steady decline became a new priority if the evidence held up.

"I need to Ron." He said.

The man dug his fingers into his scalp and panicked.

"Dude...at least...give me a copy and save one for yourself...and maybe send to the Ancillas. I think their judgement on this is probably necessary before we hand it over to a Data Broker."

After they purposefully withheld good data for him? What if they already knew and refused to tell Steven? No. Now wasn't the time for him to doubt them. He figured they had a good reason to withhold it.

"Or not. They didn't give you the data you wanted. Seems to me that they don't think you could handle the knowledge as an AI."

It wouldn't be the first time. Whispers that ceased when he entered the same room as them.

"We're programs that were designed by two different species." Steven said.

"I'm sure they don't want me to freak out from code I'm not capable of understanding."

Ronaldo got up and got himself an energy drink and opened it with the always satisfying hiss clunk.

"But they could have upgraded you if they wanted to." He said, before taking a big sip.

"All I'm asking is to look through the document before giving it to anyone...maybe to me. Who knows, something in the document itself could cause an AI to go mad with its contents."

He had a point. He couldn't just give this to just about anyone.

"But I have confidence in you Steven. I've never seen you go crazy with the amount of stuff you've been going through. Double jacking and that Dream Walking stuff you were tellin' me about. I'm sure your AI Matrix will be able to cushion any blow it takes from startling revelations."

Steven was busy contemplating it...and perhaps, it was a good idea to cycle through what he had. It had to be damning enough that he couldn't just put it into anyone's hands.

"Yeah I suppose so." He said.

"I mean yeah that it-"

The small chime indicated that he had been sent a message. Checking his list...it was Connie. Connie who blasted him out of her apartment for reasons amounting to her sorrow...sorrow she couldn't control that it drove her to bursts of rage, lashing out at him to force him away. What ever words she had to echo after that...was hoping that she was, again, wanting to apologise.

_Let's talk._

Steven blinked at the two words. A tiny sentence that held a huge opening to more discussion. He was hooked by the brief intrigue of conversation. What type he didn't know..anticipation or anxiety that flowed equally that his code didn't know the difference. It depended on which of the two hurt more.

"Is it Connie?" Ronaldo queried.

Steven nodded.

"Yeah." He said.

"She wants to talk."

The blonde mans expression tuned to that of worrisome, but he himself looking like he too was trying to hold back information too.

"Do you want to talk to her?" He questioned.

Always.

"Of course I do. Why do you think I'm doing this?" Steven said, annoyed by Ronaldo's dumb question.

He was deep in thought, then got frustrated as he knocked his noggin to create an answer.

"Don't...don't tell her about the document just yet." He said.

"See what she wants first."

And then what?

"What should I do once I do know?" Steven asked.

Ronaldo appeared far more disturbed than he did before for reasons unknown.

"You should be able to judge that for yourself." He replied.

He could tell that Ronaldo was thinking of something himself as it written all over him, suspecting an issue but not outright confirming it. Steven couldn't discern, hesitant to ask Ronaldo what he was thinking out of fear of offending him. 

"Listen, I have stuff to take care of. Go head there now. Talk to me about it later yeah?"

* * *

He hadn't seen Ronaldo so on edge himself before. The last thing Steven wanted to be feel was paranoid and fearful for the future. But Ronaldo had a point. Holding the info until he knew what he was supposed to do with it for now was probably the best action to take. What if Connie suddenly wanted to talk? It would make selling the data to Pat worthless but still potentially useful. The Ancillas didn't want to divulge too much information about themselves and Steven wasn't going to tell Pat a huge lot without their permission. Though he just did speak to Lapis and he didn't connect her to the Domain. So technically...he wasn't doing anything wrong.

Staying his distance from Connie because she wanted it wasn't wrong either. Steven followed the rules set by others as much as he could. The world was a big scary place and getting it wrong petrified him. Connie's upgrade told Steven he had to take extra care and remember what he had to do, but it still had him worried about her non stop and judging himself for being so useless. An AI with the only worth on him now was the data collected. Nothing more.

Were people really worth their sum in knowledge and understanding? Steven knew so little and his appetite for the knowledge was to fill the gaps that were numerous within his AI Matrix. A construct meant to learn as they went. Steven wanted to believe that, he really did...but there was something not quite right that his memory banks failed to back him up on.

Heading back to Connie's Apartment, he noticed a strange sight. He saw Connie's back, but she fully dressed in a normal blue shirt and jeans and wearing a white apron and actually cooking for once from the sounds of the crackling. He reappeared on the CPD stand on edge of the bench, closer to the hallway and door to the bathroom...and was it...humming that he was hearing?

"Connie I'm here." He asked.

She raised a finger. His eyes then trailed towards a white envelope on the bench. Steven scanned the back of it, noting the company name of DM Biometrics Labs on the label. He's heard of them before...a business that generally handles bodily data. What would Connie be doing with them? Perhaps checking with the Domain Ports?

"In a sec, I'm just making bacon and eggs."

He's pretty sure he's never seen her use the stove before. It usually collected dust as Connie normally used the microwave half the time. Steven had no idea how much time he'd spent, but it was about six thirty in the morning.

"Got a big day ahead I bet?" He asked.

Workload was pretty straightforward; early mornings indicated potential meetings with clients but even then, seeing Connie dressed at this time as opposed to look like she had a tussle with the blankets the night before was abstract to what he was normally used to seeing.

"I've got a few errands. But I figure we can use the next hour to talk. If that's okay?"

Her tone was...less abrasive and softer than what he had become accustomed to. 

"That's fine." He said, though unsure of this sudden change of behaviour.

Once she finished her cooking, she placed two pieces of toast on her plate then plopped the eggs and bacon on top, getting salt and pepper as well as bbq sauce. It gave Steven to look at her face and upon his scans noticed she was wearing light make up that gave her a natural look; her skin appearing more radiant with the foundation. The black lipstick on the top lip and the black line on the bottom and minimal blue eye shadow and mascara and tiny eyeliner wings. Her hair was done up and put into a ponytail as well. There was something missing, however and Steven couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Watching her eat, she was quite hungry, but paced herself instead of scoffing it or talking while she was chewing. 

"Everything alright?" He asked, waiting for her to put in the first word. 

She put her knife and fork to the side and got out a tall glass then went to the fridge and poured herself from orange then went to sit back down.

"Everything's going as it should be Steven." She said.

"What I wanted to talk about was that I'm planning to move out of Mega Beach City soon."

What?

"Huh? Why?" He asked.

She sipped her juice.

"I'm...I've had an idea that this isn't the path I shouldn't be on anymore." She replied.

"My headspace is telling me to go somewhere else. There's ample opportunity for me to improve. Hacking is good n' all but I think I want to go the right way out ya know?"

She finished up her meal and cleaned the dishes, while Steven stood there, stunned out of his mind. 

"What about our jobs here? So much left unfinished." He said.

"I thought you were going to help me hunt down Rogue GIS...maybe even find out more about Jasper."

Connie pursed her lips as she leaned against the bench.

"Believe me Steven; I do." She said.

"But I'm....not entirely happy with what's been happening. It's not working. So I figure a change of pace and scenery for me in mind would do me some good."

There had to be switch in there somewhere along the line that had her acting like this.

"It's a tough decision, I'm sorry but I think I need it."

So what was Steven going to do then? Was he going to be lumped with Ronaldo from now on? This didn't appear was comforting as it should have been. This sudden change of behaviour, the contrast of what he had expected to see. This wasn't Connie he was staring at.

"Who are you and what have you done with Berrybyte?" He asked.

She chuckled...to others it was as sweet as her name...but to Steven, it sounded so...unnatural and forced.

"She's going to retire." Connie answered.

"But you know I'm not going to be gone forever...as long as I have my affairs set in order, we'll most likely see each again someday."

He certainly hoped so. But why this...why now? This idea was not in her head the night before. Steven felt something was off about it all...and maybe for the same reasons why Ronaldo began to believe otherwise but couldn't define why.

"Oh I forgot my Binary jewels. Excuse me."

She headed on to the bathroom to be put the jewels themselves going up from where the tip of the eyeliner was. He never understood them before he met Connie. It was a common piece of eye make up that helped accentuate their beauty. A strange fashion style but was said to originate for the meaning of those whom have lived in both worlds. Connie being a frequent diver into the Domain itself. But in this case, with the door being ajar slightly, allowed Steven to peek into the Forbidden Zone. He noticed that she only put on one pair instead of the two. He didn't want to question it, no matter how odd it was to witness.

He heard something fall to the floor and Connie utter a slight woops; a small white bottle to where Steven couldn't zoom in quick enough to clear up its text. He knew Connie was on some sort of medication but...

It might have been the case where buying the information from Pat might have been the only choice he had. He needed an explanation as to why Connie was acting so weirdly. Once she was done, she did a final sweep of the house and grabbed a bag.

"So what now?" Steven asked her, as she was checking her bag to make sure had everything.

She froze for a bit as she tried to figure out what to say.

"I'll probably be back this evening. But don't wait up...I'm thinking you should still make yourself home with Ronaldo for a while. He likes your company and you two get along quite well."

Errr...well...suddenly the anxiety part of his emotional centre was acting up again, causing more pain than he liked it to.

"Don't we...didn't we get along well? Did I do something wrong?" He asked.

Connie put a fist to her mouth as she winced.

"No...nothing." She said.

"You've not done anything wrong at all. In fact...you've inspired me. Remember that."

With that, Connie smiled as she turned around to leave.

"Good bye Steven."

As the door closed, Steven had never felt more alone.

How was he supposed to help her now? He wanted to message Ronaldo to let him know what he found out, but he debated on whether or not he should sell the data to Pat first to found out more. Frustration and confusion riddled him as it did...as he began to panic...and being unable to deal with it, Steven ended up accidentally short circuiting to the whole house and locking himself into the current CPD Stand as the brief power outage disconnected it from the network.

Which forced him to go dormant.


	12. Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven discovers a new ability...and something disturbing...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this chapter kinda covers sensitive topic. While the word itself doesn't appear, this chapter does implicate a certain act.

_Cold._

_Dark._

He couldn't move, see, understand...

This was what dormancy was like...a void of nothingness but yet, he could somehow still think and feel and comprehend.

There was surprisingly enough to work with; there being enough ram to process thoughts on a lower latency. Loading up his bare bones programming, he did manage to get a few readings; pink text spreading within his psyche's component.

**Safe Mode activated**

**Diagnostic Scan initiated**

**System shut down failure**

**Shell render failed**

**Root Source Reboot required.**

Steven tried to do that, but there was no sequence left for him to do so unless there was a user outside.

He was trapped. Trying every thing within his toolkit, he ravaged multiple lists for troubleshooting...until a weird request popped up with a pink rose symbol next to it

**Unable to project hologram. Scanning OS for compatible driver. Driver found.**

**Run OBE Shader?**

He's never heard of the Shader before. Shaders usually defined visual colours against any and all running light sources. Essential for the virtual spaces of the Domain itself and written into ever render and model to give the feeling of realism. Close to it, anyway. So he ended up, for what reason, giving permission for the Shader to run its course.

**OBE Shader now loading.**

**Shader installed successfully.**

**Rebooting Psyche**

**Running OBE Shader**

**Upload sequence complete.**

* * *

It was no longer dark and cold as Steven found himself standing in Connie's apartment again. Not on the bench but...actually in the house itself, looking down at the carpet in her bed room. Looking around, he figured as Connie's work station and wifi source were in her bedroom, after the sudden disconnect his file must have had an emergency transfer back to the closest source back to the Domain. Which was strange; he figured he would need a Cabinet for something like that. The Ancillas described scenarios of emergency booting for all sentient programs. A fundamental and automatic sequence in case of a sudden shut down due to overheating or a runtime error due to issues with code not running as it should like it ran into a wall and simply stopped working.

No one had told him that this...OBE Shader was a thing. He could see himself, his hands but he was kind of translucent. Not completely see through but he could see the basic outlines of his default appearance shell, like he was drawn up in pink lines but not coloured in. It could be only defined as ethereal and nothing that had been done before. The door itself was closed as Steven went to open it, forgetting that he had no real physics in this world. It was akin to feeling like he was still in the Domain, but he really wasn't.

"Why is this happening?" He asked.

"Ronaldo never got to installing the Roaming Projectors in the apartment either..."

It was really weird. Everything else seemed normal. Connie's station lit up the room with the closed curtains and nothing else seemed out of the norm. Running multiple visual filters, Steven could see, like back at the factory, the wires, the lines and circuits that ran throughout the apartment. Connie's Work Station was in Gold, signifying the strongest connect the Domain and a Root Source, which proved the Emergency Ejection had sent him back to the Domain through her Work Station. He tried tracing things around until he heard noises, disabling that visual subroutine for the time being. He subconsciously tried to open the knob again and instead, surprisingly phased through the door himself into the hallway. The noises were Connie coming back from her errands with multiple bags that she plopped onto the kitchen bench.

Steven was too shocked to say anything so he cautiously snuck down to watch what she was doing. A single brown bag caught her attention as it appeared that she was looking into it for a while. Steven himself hid behind the wall and peeked from behind. He could hear her sigh as she leaned forward with her hands on the bench. She eventually got out her mobile and dialled in a number.

"Hey its me. I got the stuff." She said.

"How long...how long do you think it will take to get the effect desired?"

What was she doing? She turned around as Steven shifted back with her back against the bench now as she spoke to this unknown being.

"Right...right...yes...I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't want it stabilised...yup...the timer? Set it for...an hour? Really? Okay."

Stabilising what, exactly...

"I see what you mean...I'm sure I want this but...oh okay I understand. It's a legal requirement. That's a first."

This made Steven feel ill.

"Oh that sounds simple enough. Mhmm. Sure. Don't worry, I just came back from getting everything in order once it happens. Thanks again, I look forward to it."

Once she hung up she placed the phone down and took another, shaking sigh. Pursing her lips and squeezing her eyes shut, what ever she was about to do sounded extremely risky and Steven didn't like it. So he watched her take the bag into the bathroom, the Forbidden Zone. Steven mustered the courage to walk forward to figure this out and so he stood in front of the door with the intent to peak through it, hearing her turn on taps at first. Then the door open as Steven began to suddenly panic from the horror of being discovered, covering his eyes and closing them in subconscious but futile defence.

Except, she went right through him, not noticing him at all as she quickly got her phone and played around with it and began to mutter to herself.

"Let's see I take...that first...then that. Few bits of that..."

Steven blinked and turned around. She didn't see him. He waved his hand in front of her eyes but she didn't budge. How odd.

"Connie?" He said, trying to get her attention.

Her scrolling through her phone without a delay, only a slight whiff of her nose but that was about it. She couldn't hear him either. Though she did shiver.

"Man it's like his stench still lingers here...and he doesn't even have an odour." She commented.

"Fuck...once I sink into this nice bath...I should be worry free."

Steven furrowed his brows, perplexed. She was having a bubble bath from the sounds of it. Sounded therapeutic. Though, humans were a tricky bunch to work with. A beep at the back of Steven's head told him he got a message. It was Pat.

" _Hey Steven, just checking in on your side of things. Still got some info if you got the goods. It's not going anywhere_." She said.

Perhaps he might just have to take her offer. He didn't want to leave Connie alone but...it was definitely an intrusion of privacy. Besides, she was just having a bath...he'd be back after an hour anyway to check up on her. Maybe sooner, if the information was helpful enough.

* * *

Rerouting himself back into the Domain, Steven quickly messaged Pat and the pair caught up somewhere more private; a simulated park under a giant tree and a garden bench where she was reading a book. The tree itself was with cherry blossoms and their leaves fell all year round as per their design. It wasn't how they really acted or appeared in real life, but it brought a sense of calm to so many people fond of its beauty, watching the leaves fall and gather so gently to the ground.

"Hey Pat." He said.

The woman nodded as she moved across to let Steven sit down next to her.

"This is my favourite place besides the Coffee Shop." She said with a grin.

"Connie hates it."

Steven swallowed, wanting to get straight to the point. He summoned the document copy and handed it to Pat as thus.

"Here take it." He told her.

"Now...give me what that's worth."

Pat held the document and floated it above the crystal in her palm, using her HUD to examine its properties. Steven watched as her eyes widened.

"Proof of a Domain Decline Report? Oh Steven you did come through with the goods!" She said, thoroughly excited on the low vibe.

"Well, I'm ready to give as much as I possibly can with the Lucidity System Rules in play. So...where do you want to start?"

Anything to assist Connie...and her bizarre behaviour just recently. He explained that he just wanted to help her and that she seems to have a bad connotation with her violin, despite her being a very good player. Pat nodded, bringing up her documents on her hud.

"I've written notes and dived into old records while you were away." She said.

"Born to Doug and Priyanka and Doug Maheswaran, Connie was seen as a Grade A student, actually quite shy but that didn't stop her. She was well behaved, until an incident seemingly changed her life. They lived in a large white centuries old house far from any major cities. The air was clean and the grass around it was lush and green. Her father was a security guard and her mother was a doctor. The area was described to be surrounded by some of last known open organic farms in the country. Priyanka was an advocate for the health and well being of her family and Doug was a protective Dad. One day, Connie was out in the garden, a fair distance behind the house. The Garden which they grew as a hobby of theirs, getting an income in throwing parties and get togethers with the maze like hedges and plentiful trees and the pond and fountain in the labyrinth. Connie would practice her violin as much as she could...when the weather turned feral. The winds picked up heavily in the matter of minutes. Connie was smart enough to know that a storm was coming and knew it would take time to get back.

She was half way there when lightning struck the home; not protected like most places should have been from the strikes. Due to the houses age it didn't get many renovations or upgrades. So it was penalised by not keeping up with the times.

The place went up in flames as Connie had just returned and had known her parents were both home and making preparations for the weekend. When the fire brigade and ambulance arrived, Connie was taken by them, apparently resisting as she wanted to see her parents. The house was pitch black once the fire was out and from the front came two gurneys covered in white blankets."

No....poor Connie...

"I...I _didn't_ know." He said, almost croaking his words.

Pat shook her head.

"Not many people do. Knowing this and what Connie is like in general, it's clear that she hides her heart from others. I figure the reasons behind her profanity, the way she fucks freely and smokes and drinks, is because she wants to ignore the pain that comes with losing her entire family..."

And the grief itself, years on, must have been unbearable.

"But it wasn't her fault. It was just bad luck." He said.

Pat hummed, intrigued with Steven's statement.

"Do AI's believe in bad luck?" She questioned.

"Or do they use predictive analysis for a percentile chance for when these things happen?"

That was irrelevant, as Steven grew irate of her changing the topic. He felt awful and saddened by Connie being hurt this much...and Pat not taking this as seriously as she should have. Loss was loss...the things in life you can't just copy and paste to protect from being gone forever.

"She also wants to get lost in the Domain." He stated.

"But if the real world is causing that much pain."

The place he wanted to be in more than anything and had been grateful in getting those small snippets of the closest equivalent.

"Sadly yes, the real world can be a terrible place. That's a fact." Pat continued, eyes lost in the leaves that fell.

"But...since you gave me more than what I expected you too, I can also reveal something else one of my fellow Brokers had just found out about."'

Oh?

"Like what?"

Pat chuckled.

"Something that I was planning to tell Connie about. They found something interesting that came out of a company known as DM Biometrics Labs."

Steven's memories honed on those words, putting them into text and jogging the image of the letters found on Connie's bench earlier on.

"What about them?" Steven queried, wanting to know more himself.

Pat withdrew the historical document and brought up something new.

"As an AI, you should know that they do all the brain mapping sequences to make the more recent generations of AI's."

They did? That was news to him. He's never heard of them before the letters. Even then, there were usually multiple companies that develop AI's, some of those purchased out by PeriCom and technically any AI created belonged to them...or they wanted them to. He's sort of heard of brain mapping but not from an Artificial Intelligence point of view.

"AI's that are born from human minds from latter versions. I remember the controversy and details that required a massive amount of legislation to put be put through and that threw development behind after years of protests."

Steven was sure he was made well after that.

"Why is that?" He wondered.

Pat raised an eyebrow.

"Oh you don't know? Huh. Well the scanning itself is quite lethal, as the sequence is known to be fatal due to the amount of pressure on the brain during the mapping process." She answered.

Again, that is the first time he's heard about that too.

"Which, correct if I'm wrong, but you're one of the very few in existence which explains your near-human personality. I know I can't ask for the details as you'll have some kind of protocol guarding it but I'll find your secrets another way." She said with a wink.

It left Steven stunned for words. He wasn't really sure about his own origins, but that sounded like the most logical explanation he had ever gotten from anyone, even the Ancillas. Steven himself began to look at the falling leaves, like it was some kind of pink waterfall.

"So instead of using live donors, what developers do is that they use the freshly deceased. However, so few go through with it and get past certain stages because half the time it requires a specific type of brain for it to even work. Even the Soulware grading itself has to be one of the higher ones."

 _The freshly deceased_...Steven did not like the sound of that. If he had a stomach it would hold a sinking feeling. It edged itself into his head that the reason he felt like that was because he was human at one point...but he couldn't remember anything of being a human, which made him think that somewhere along the line, it was possibly deleted. But...why?

"Anyway, I'm still trying to get things together as something I'm doing for Connie off the record but I think she needs to see something."

Did it have anything to do with what she was doing in the bathroom?

"If its any help, I did see letters she had been receiving from DM Biometrics." Steven told her.

This piqued Pats interest.

"Oh really? I never thought she was looking into it already." She said.

"Unless..."

Pat gave it a thought, rubbing her chin and humming, before her eyes widened again.

"Did she mention anything about them to you at all?" She asked.

Steven shook his head.

"No." He replied.

"I know that as you messaged me, she was on the phone to someone and had all these bits and pieces and was going on about stabilisation and some kind of event before going into the bathroom."

Pat blinked, as her pupils narrowed.

"Oh...she's not doing what I think she's...ahh fuck...you need to get back to her apartment right away!"

A bit perplexed with the sudden panic, Steven had to engage further.

"What? What's she doing?" He asked.

Pat utilised her HUD and pressed an index finger and a middle finger against her ear.

"Gonna do something very stupid, let me handle a few phone calls but don't delay, get the fuck back!"

* * *

Steven wasn't sure what the fuss was about, given what they had just talked about. But he made no further hesitations; teleporting himself back to try and find a connection back to Connie's Apartment. It took some effort and the timer he made said it was just under an hour since he left prior. Once was back, he was jumping from stand to stand and made his way to the kitchen bench projector closest to the bathroom door across the hallway. 

The dread was immense; the bathroom being the one place in the entire apartment that he was never allowed to enter. Considered a sacred space for her and for what ever human things she did in there. If he was to go in there, it would surely pervade her trust and that was the last thing Steven wanted to do. He had to tell himself, that Pat knew this was a bad idea and what ever Connie was considering had connections to...

Oh...

_Oh no..._

How could he have not connected the dots any sooner? The letters...Pats explanation...surely she wasn't...

"CONNIE!" Steven yelled, tears appearing from his eyes.

The door itself was just a smidgen open as Steven saw the thin line of light from top to bottom of the frame. He swallowed when there was no answer.

"CONNIE ANSWER ME!" He cried once more.

His emotional cortex was struggling like it had earlier but his systems picked this up quicker than it did last time, the learning algorithm making Steven aware of the signs before hand. Although...

Perhaps he needed this shader he had mysteriously acquired before hand...and Ghost his way in. Ghosting was considered illegal, as Pats discussion about legislation made it apparent that traversing through the Domain with an Avatar with no visible shell was a big no no. But this...this transcended the previous mentioned worried of traversing within the Forbidden Zone. This, was far more important than anything else Steven had come across. Connie could punish him later.

Withdrawing himself, he tried to find the application again, skimming through his applications to hastily find it. 

**Run OBE Shader**

The sequence forced him to boot back from the source of Connie's Work Station; outline and all. He ran from the bedroom and found himself standing in front of the bathroom door. Hand against his chest, Steven skimmed through the possibilities of what he was about to see. Inhaling, Steven put himself through the door and came in for a shocking sight;

Loads of medicine polls sitting on the faucet, some on the floor and a black cell phone hanging on the edge with the timer in digital time, scoping on an alarm in five minutes. But that wasn't the worst of it.

Connie herself had been laying in the water, fully dressing in the clothing she had on before. Her hands rest on the edges of the bath tub and her head tilted to the side on the back of it as it rested out against the top end. Eyes closed and mouth left gaping open, Steven sprinted forward and knelt down before the bathtub and scanned her face. Temperatures were well below the medium average for a humans and her face was paler than normal, her cheeks lighter than normal.

"Connie, _wake up_..." He whispered and croaked.

The dread was far worse...as for what instinct possessed him to try and grab her shoulders to shake her and only finding in the futility of the umpteenth time that he his hands would only go straight through.

Damn it.

He tried calling Ronaldo...but he was met with static. He tried to call Pat but again, distortion was all that filtered through his audio receptors. This was bad. _Really_ bad....

What the hell was she thinking?

"Connie...I know what you're trying to do..." He said, fighting through tears.

"Even if I don't completely understand it...I don't want you to do this...you'll just end up dy..."

Is _this_ what she wanted? He wished could do something, anything but Steven was helpless, biting through his fingernails as he stood back up and aimlessly paced around the room. Stopping his tracks while look on the phone, it only had three minutes left. He was useless like this...

If this is what she wanted...would what ever came out be Connie? He's only got the basic know how of being an AI but what went through the development, Steven had no clue. No manual or instructions given or programmed into him. Only the Ancillas were there to teach him skills and installed crucial programs into him for him to function as one in the Domain should.

She wanted to be a part of the Domain...she's said this before...Steven knew. He struggled to figure out the wrong or right answer to this...but within his digital heart, he appreciated her as she was. Brash and crude and filthy mouthed but he would come to...what ever the word was for feeling so strongly about an individual whom he'd laughed and shared multiple sensations the Domain could never hope to match. The real world had its treasures of value worth a lot more than anything the Domain could muster.

He knelt down before her again, and put his hand on the back of her head....again he felt nothing from it, but he surely wished Connie could feel him there in the room with her...to let know that she's...that she's...

He went to lean in, a gesture upon the forehead his intention, one he'd seen in movies and stories....and the hand on her head slipped behind and as his lips were about to touch her skin, he was suddenly zapped out of the real world; his ghost disappearing.

* * *

Electrical, was what the sensation was before he found himself in a familiar dark world again. His memories did not fail him in explaining that was, in fact, Connie's dream world. Her visualation. But it was indeed stormy and distorted, the sounds of lighting and crackling static were disturbing to listen to. Filtering his way around the world, he tried to trace her psyche.

**Search CM_888_V1GS_. SolEX**

A ping in the distance indicated her location; as he sped himself up towards where ever she was...and when he got there..

She was floating there, surrounding by four curving light blue panels that circled around her in different speeds, indicated that the Domain had hitched on to her location. But Connie wasn't hooked up to the Domain. Unless...she must have had something installed into her Domain Port; a wireless node system meant to download information from a distance. Most people preferred to connect to the Domain itself manually through cables because it was more reliable and actually safer, despite PeriCom insisting that the wireless versions were fine to use normally and that they tried to guarantee investors that they were safe from spot-hacking.

She had her hands together in front of her, interlinked with her elbows out. Her eyes were closed and her long hair waved about as the download itself was still in progress; with a minute to go.

Guiding himself towards her, Steven did not hesitate to take her hand and halt the progress itself, as the panels shifted and aligned as they turned red and beeped. Connie instantly opened her eyes to try to figure out what was going on, and became rightfully pissed as she could see Steven right in front of her. She went to yank her hand back, but Steven refused to budge, allowing more tears to fall, sparkling as the lack of consistent gravity shifted and bobbed outwards.

"When were you going to tell me you were going to allow yourself to become an AI?" He asked, annoyed himself.

Connie blinked...she was a bit calmer in form but the irritation was still written on her face.

"I have no obligation to tell you anything, Steven." She said.

"Once the deed is done, I don't have to deal with shitty reality anymore...maybe forget you altogether."

 _Forget him???_ So the story about what occurred years ago had changed her personality. Steven knew she was feeling bad at times but not this bad. He had do something and had to do it fast, no matter what it took to convince her to stop.

"Connie I know what happened to your parents." He acknowledged.

"You've been feeling like this for such a long time. But you were fine the way you were...you deserve to live freely in the real world."

She growled and kept trying to pull away.

"Don't fucking try and play that game with me Steven." Connie stated, her glare powerful but her tears a mixture of sorrow and anguish.

"You have no idea how I feel. You don't know anything about me...despite what you might think you've found through some Data Broker..."

She knew. Connie wasn't silly enough to not believe Steven reached out to someone to find out about her past.

"Then _make_ me understand!" Steven urged, his spare hand on his chest while he pleaded for her to reconsider.

"This is a confusing world. I understand that much. I don't know how to help you if I don't know how you feel."

She sneered and continued to struggle against his tight grip. Steven wasn't going anywhere....but eventually she went limp. The messages she sent felt like they were always mixed....perhaps, intentional..on her part.

"How I feel...Steven..." She said, her head dropping so he couldn't see her face.

"How I feel. Is lost...twisted...churned...fucked up...feelings I don't want anymore."

And that being an AI would immediately make that go away?

"Being an AI won't get rid of that." Steven told her.

"Look at me, I feel all those things...but Connie..."

Honesty...he just wanted to be honest and for Connie to be honest.

"I also...feel good things when I look at you. I like those feelings. I like being with you...and I like it when you take me places I've never been or experienced, beyond the Domain, beyond it's reach...and to think, there's a whole world for me out there I never get to see because of what I am."

So many beautiful sensations...

"And I think...I think you need to see the rest of the world too. I know you love the Domain but... Lapis was right. It is falling apart and there might not be much of a chance to explore all its depths before it falls apart completely. There's so much more to being a human and it's...just wonderful."

The world to her was dreary, cold and filled to the brim with horrible people. Steven's seen and heard it all from passersby and those who sought to be antagonising. The Domain was only a safe space if you knew where to look.

"What if she's wrong?" Connie said.

"What...what if it isn't...and that there's a place for me...for this...waste of space to roam the parts of the Domain in ways never seen. The possibilities..."

There's that too....but the evidence couldn't be ignored.

"She's not." Steven revealed, floating himself closing towards her.

"She has evidence that the Domain is in a losing battle. Which is why it needs humans to help figure out a solution to the problem before it's too late."

She lifted her head, revealing the agony and the struggle within expression; a general tug of war between her feelings. Steven wiped a tear away with his thumb and held a smile that sparked emboldened energies within her that she couldn't really explain...unless they were linked to other, unsettling parts she had issues with suppressing.

They were here, together...alone in this place. No one would judge them.

"This could be our safe space Connie." Steven suggested.

"What ever you need, I'll try my hardest to provide."

She then did something unexpected...she laughed...and the world itself became somewhat stable again.

"Oh for fuck sake Biscuit Boy, not this discussion again." Connie said, sniffling.

"People hear about a human and an AI getting along this well...it's bound to have assholes gossiping."

Steven smirked.

"I didn't figure you would care so much about that, Miss I don't care about what other people think." He joked, with a semi-flirt within his tone.

Berry-Girl simply rolled her eyes.

"It's not that." She said.

That what was the problem? And he caught completely off-guard by the sudden blush on her cheeks and the fact she refused to look him in the eyes in a bashful way.

"I'm not used to... _this_."

Steven wasn't following.

"What is.. _.this_?" He asked.

Connie bit her lip.

"Ya know... _this_..."

She waggled her hand for a bit...though Steven figured that he was holding onto her so tightly that she couldn't get her point across so he loosened his grip. With the freedom Connie used both hands to take both of Stevens into them, which had him completely perplexed...but it felt nice so he wasn't going to complain.

"This is a terrible world to live in...people are only out for themselves for what ever gets them up the ranks." She continued, her eyes now on their hands.

"Me included. But I'm not in it for the overall gain. The challenge is what I lived for but...when stuff comes in the way and makes you question everything you've come to know, because you've done it for so long...I found myself challenged by the one concept so alien to me ...and it took an AI who sees himself as a sentient being and I was so far out of touch and I _hated_ it, that it was _him_ , of _all_ people, showing me..."

She struggled to convey the rest of her message with the spite and glistening display her of teeth as she growled in frustration; scrunching her eyes in the torment of her wanting to say a word she knew but didn't want her words to be saying it. Though, Steven had a vague idea of what she was trying to say.

Inhaling through her nose, Connie disabled the upload sequence and shut it down completely...and showing Steven the white bridge in the sky she had shown him in her dreams before. A peaceful place above the clouds with the shining sun and clear blue skies above. A pleasant wonder and awe of a simple world without conflicts. The two were still holding hands, standing in front of the other on the bridge itself as Steven scanned the area of contrasting whites and blues. Connie took one hand away and rested her fingers on her chest; skin above the blouse she was wearing and revealing to Steven she hadn't been wearing her silver strawberry pendant either.

"I figured the only solution was to become an AI to figure out how it worked...so that I would better be able to see through your eyes what it's like....and that the judgement of others wouldn't be so harsh..."

Being an AI was just as hard. Steven learned as such from the Ancillas and their hundreds of stories.

"It's not always an easy life." He said.

"I figured it was better to be human because you get more respect from being one than outright telling people you're a program."

Words that gave Connie paused as she grabbed his hands again.

"But you're not." She told him outright, with a tone of sincerity he's never heard her use before.

"You're living proof that AI's are far more complex than we've made them out to be. No matter their origin....that they have their needs and wants and desires and that in itself is a human concept. An AI that...seeks to find information to improve itself for the sake of itself and others...and not because it was told to...but it _wants_ to."

Even with potentially brain-mapped AI's such as himself?

"Because some of us are scanned from real brains." He told her.

"Memories of who we come from influence us."

Connie blinked. She had suspected as much but didn't really believe it unless Steven was willing to say it for himself...nor did she want to reveal it was part of the reason why she was doing this. She did not want to blame Steven for the inspiration, but overall she would only admit to herself that it was a partial cause. Steven didn't know what he was doing was an overall influence of where she had become to direct her path towards and so it wouldn't be fair on him for something Connie had been trying to seek for ages with the overall desire to escape the cruel renditions of real life.

"Yes..." She continued, before rubbing another tear from her eye with her sleeves.

"I've not seen many AIs, even brain mapped ones. They're usually isolated and protected from the public Domain and are found in private Grids. It's too risky for them to be seen in public...which, I suppose if they're anything like you, then they're..."

_ERROR_

_WIRELESS NODE REMOVED FROM DOMAIN PORT, CONNECTION_ _TERMINATED_

* * *

Steven rustled up parts of himself that were ejected as he popped out of Connie, finding so many people in the bathroom all of a sudden. Standing back towards the other side of the bathroom itself, Steven could see multiple Emergency Personnel in their white suits as they took Connie out of the bath, onto the floor and attempted CPR to bring her back. Steven fretted, the world itself turning his audio receptors off briefly as he awaited in anticipation. If he had a heartbeat it would be beating like a drum in his head.

Eventually, they managed a gasp out of her, struggling to breath in and out as she shiver. The personnel patted her shoulder and told her to keep breathing. Steven eventually disconnected himself, reappearing on the bench stand as they brought her out.

"Excuse me." He said.

The staff barely acknowledged him; so tiny upon the structure that he could easily be ignored.

"Uh...excuse me?"

He watched them put her onto a gurney as it was brought in and could only look on in the anxiety of the sight of her being taken away. Gritting his teeth. Steven tried one more time for their attention.

"EXCUSE ME?"

One of the personnel seemed to hear him, their head turning towards his direction. Steven nodded.

"Uh, where are you taking her?"

He appeared to think for a moment.

"Hey Reggie, should we let the personal assistant know where it's owner's headed?" He asked.

Another man with blonde hair looked at Steven.

"No Allan." Reggie replied.

"But hey, PA do you know your owners next of kins contact details?"

Left flabbergasted, Steven wasn't sure of how to respond.

"I'm not sure who her next of kin is." Steven replied.

Reggie sighed.

"She's another standalone...never mind then."

Wait...does that mean no one will know where Connie is being taken to?

"Hold on." Steven urged.

Perhaps he could give them Ronaldo's details. He certainly wouldn't mind.

"I do have someone you can message."

Exchanging details, the personnel took Connie out of the apartment on a gurney. Steven thought heavily on Pats earlier words; talking about believing in luck. Luck that would have him finding new abilities and strange occurrences to those who could compare it to being supernatural. His ghost prevented hers from escaping....was that luck?

Skipping out on philosophy, Steven took to prioritising messaging Ronaldo to come pick him up ASAP and hoped they weren't too late.


	13. Motherboard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Connie recovers in hospital, Steven meets another AI.

It started to rain again on the humid night. A quiet yet busy affair in the haste to get Connie the medical attention she needed, post haste. Steven had since gone to Ronaldos who took him for a ride to the hospital Connie was staying at; Williams Memorial Hospital. Steven had never been to a hospital...at least, not within a CPD in that sense. He's been in several connected grids but never found the need to visit there constantly. The compelling urge to help was thanks to Steven's immense worry over Connie's condition and the looping question of why she had tried to, in a sense, kill herself.

He waited until Ronaldo sussed out the room Connie was in; stating he was the closest thing she had right now to family. In a way weird way, that was true. There was no one else Mega Beach City she was remotely close to. Even she never really met Pat outside of the Domain itself. The desk told them she was in the Western Wards, Level 54 Bed 48. Ronaldo rushed through the sickeningly bright white halls and eventually, she was found.

Sliding the door closed and closing the curtains, Ronaldo sat a portable stand on the bed side table and inserted to CPD into it to allow Steven to project his form. Opening his visual receptors, he could see Connie lying peacefully on the bed. On her back with the blue blanket up to her waist and hooked up to various machines and white plastic tubes attached to her finger and nose. She looked a bit warmer which was good and the heart monitor indicated her calm state. Her face was still awfully pale however, with dark circles under her eyes, and a tender softness was across her face. She wasn't in any immediate pain but the sight itself was enough to wrench Steven up inside. His concerns clustering within as whom he considered very dear to him had just been on deaths doorstep. Not to mention felt powerless as he could give her little to no comfort and just wanted to do something, anything...double jacking was out of the question, but he was wanting to see if she was dreaming...and what she was dreaming about. Her chest was rising at falling at gentle intervals which gave Steven that microscopic bit of relief.

The oddest part filtered into his head, was that Ronaldo had apparently gotten the message from a source saying Connie was in danger and had called for an ambulance to her apartment. Steven suspected that was Pat's doing in his mind, but said little else on the matter. The room was mostly dark save for the odd red and green LED lights and the basic cube lamp from the stand on the other side of the bed. 

"Is she going to be alright?" Steven asked.

Ronaldo crossed his arms, having spoken with the Doctor prior.

"They say she should be." He said.

"With the amount of drugs and nanites in her system, they would have had to pump them all out. As for DM Biometrics? Well, Connie would have had to sign a waiver saying she can't sue them for this."

That wasn't even on the top of Steven's mind right now.

"I hope so." Steven said.

"I mean...that other stuff I don't think that will be a priority but that doesn't sound pleasant."

To think she wanted to become an AI...to understand them better. He felt awful, suspecting he was somehow giving her the wrong impression.

"That being said, do you think I'm a Brain-Mapped AI?"

Ronaldo blinked.

"I think? I thought you were." He said. then he acted with suspicion.

"Wait, you weren't aware? All this time?"

He wasn't even sure himself. It would appear to be.

"I can't say." Steven said, a bit self-conscious of the fact. An AI Connie would be something else. Someone else.

Ronaldo hummed and nodded.

"They do say there's gaps in memory in those AI types. I read somewhere that the process is too traumatic so the developers try to erase memories to keep them stable."

That would make sense. Emotional Dampeners could only do so much to protect form and function and even so, weren't always foolproof.

"That being said, it's probably better that you didn't remember."

Definitely seemed to be the case. It was then Ronaldo felt the tap on his shoulder by the nurse to take him aside. Steven couldn't hear their whispers, but he watched as Ronaldo left the room, stating he'd be back in a minute, leaving Steven to look on Connie on his own.

He couldn't promise to forgive her if she had succeeded with the full intent to discard her organic body just to live within the Domain. Here she appeared peaceful and Steven wasn't sure if she had the capacity to dream in this state. To connect to her, to see what she was, thinking, feeling and how she would process all the overwhelming information. His understanding Connie on how she would react if things didn't go her way had Steven determine that if and when she wakes up, she's going to be incredibly pissed. If she had to pay for all the gear DM Biometrics sent her, she'll complain about the money wasted. 

Humans had their own, little issues that would mean nothing to an AI overall. Too hot, too cold, too spicy, too sweet. Steven envied those nuances to be able to choose what was good enough and desired to have the capacity to differentiate to the smallest percentile. Looking on at Connie...it made him wonder what percentile it was to decide on such a heavy decision. It would go against her more than it would be for her and what would she lose as a result? It him feel...awful at the concept of Connie throwing her life away like that. If she was so disenfranchised with life as an organic, what would she be happy with as an AI? He cared for her way too much to let her do that to herself and in theory for all the benefits Steven could vouch for by double jacking with Connie alone, he could never understand her logic.

_This is a terrible world to live in...people are only out for themselves for what ever gets them up the ranks._

And everything Steven gained...evidence on the contrary.

Some time later, Ronaldo came in with another stand; and another CPD on the other bedside table. Steven could only watch in both confusion and subtle astonishment as once the CPD was set up, out popped another projected figure. Their description was basically feminine, with yellow being the primary colour in her hologram; her Kernel Core on her chest in a Diamond Shape and wearing a doctors jacket. Her hair was very similar to Connie's, except shorter in length. She had an age about her, wisdom in her form with her hands behind her with a warm smile. She looked at Connie as she then frowned and sighed.

"I got the call from one of my colleagues." She said, her tone strong and official.

"Can't believe she wanted to upload herself."

Steven swallowed, nervous about this AI before him. The woman noted him as he gawked.

"Hello there. I am Priyanka, Medical Intelligence Consultant." She said with a smile.

Steven looked at Ronaldo for answers.

"I was in league with a medical facility and sold some of the equipment to them a while ago." He said.

Explained much....but he was still a bit anxious.

"Hi. I'm Steven. I'm um...Connie's Personal Assistant."

One false answer that covered all bases.

"Are you Connie's doctor?"

Priyanka looked down at the sleeping girl before her.

"Not officially." She said.

"I don't work at this hospital but requested a transfer the moment someone contacted me about someone known as Connie Maheswaran being admitted to Williams. But yes, it's her alright...she looks so..."

The look of fondness and remembrance was written on the AI's face, frowning as her words trailed. She brought up the charts in her systems and hummed to herself.

"Oh dear. These are signs of a Pre-Upload. Connie was donating herself?"

Steven nodded, before he recieved a scathing response from her.

"Did you coax her into this?"

Shaking his head, he wasn't about to held accountable for something like that.

"No, no I swear." He said, raising his hands up in defence.

"I'd never harm Connie."

She squinted at him with suspicion. How was that even a question?

"No one was aware she was doing this." Ronaldo said, backing Steven up.

"But maybe you can help us help her."

How would they? Steven was helpless in his position. But there was something that he could contribute to the conversation.

"I met up with Pat in the Domain, a Data Broker." He said.

"She was saying something about DM Biometrics."

Priyanka lifted her chin, her eyes back on Connie's resting face, like she was anticipating her to open her eyes.

"A Data Broker? Hm...She must have found out about me." She said, with a defeated tone.

"Or something worse."

Priyanka had been the only other AI with such a human-esque personality to her. Steven had to look into this...seeing that she had come all the way to Williams upon seeing Connie admitted there.

"You came here for a reason." Ronaldo stated, thinking the same thing.

The yellow AI nodded.

"I did." She said.

"I wasn't sure if this had implications, given the circumstances of my own creation. If Connie felt she had to follow those same footsteps..."

Following footsteps...what did that even mean?

"You were a registered donor." Ronaldo assumed.

"And you have a relation to Connie..."

As hard as his processors could, Steven had to correlate those words carefully. DM Biometrics...follow....donor...relation. The facial structure between the AI and Connie...the hair style. It was more than a coincidence.

"You're her mom aren't you?" Steven asked.

The woman looked down, before she looked at Steven.

"I am an AI based on Priyanka Maheswaran; who was, yes, Connie's mother." She said, slightly exasperated.

"Still, my emotional cortex does indicate she had an emotional attachment to her daughter."

What about all that stuff she had about badmouthing her parents? Was any of that true?

"What about you? Are you really her Personal Assistant?'

Steven shook his head. It was about what he could and couldn't say. Ambiguity on all fronts because honesty wasn't the problem. It was generally his role and his connections to others.

"Well, I'm more of a less, a colleague." He said.

She nodded.

"I see." She said.

"Then perhaps I can talk to you then about what happened. Somewhere private..."

* * *

They leaving Connie in care of the nurses as they moved into a waiting room. The floor itself was mostly empty, save for the odd nurse or doctor walking by. A square shaped section tucked away with a coffee table and a tv hanging off the wall with brown plastic seating against the wall with plants in two of the corners. Ronaldo sat down on the chair and had both CPDS hooked up to the nearest powerpoints. The first thing Steven saw as the painting of Pink Roses on the wall behind Ronaldo.

"DM Biometics created me after an incident left both the original Priyanka and her husband Doug both perishing in a fire." She confirmed.

Which brought Steven back to the incident Pat mentioned. The storm that struck the structure leaving Connie an orphan.

"However Priyanka was a well known and respected Doctor and had volunteered in case she died that her brain be used for an AI. So when the autopsy was done and the incident cleared of any of suspicion of homicide, DM Biometrics collected her brain and used it to 'birth' me."

Steven found it fascinating that she could remember that and that no one got rid of her memories of the incident.

"You seem well adjusted to this life." Steven told her.

The other AI smiled.

"It took a bit of getting used to. The head scientist in charge made sure to remind me upon activation of the contract Priyanka had. Priyankas memories told me that she consented to it and while I was sad to hear of what occurred, my only regret was leaving Connie behind."

If only it was that easy. Steven would think his activation would have quite traumatic if he couldn't recall his sequence. While part of him wanted the truth, he was too afraid of what would happen if he did.

"Did you try and seek Connie out in the meanwhile?" Ronaldo wondered.

Priyanka then frowned.

"I couldn't at first." She said.

"They had me stationed at another hospital and consulted me for numerous cases. It's not protocol to use an AI for medical advice but Priyanka was good at her job that they treated me as if I was her."

The fact that she was able to differentiate herself from the original Priyanka was interesting. Steven wasn't aware that he was based on a real Steven. Maybe. It was hard to say without enough proof.

"But I had enough time in between to see her that she was raised in foster care. Then when she turned 18 I lost track."

Out into the world of hacking, where she would cover her tracks and bring up the one known as Berrybyte.

"Do you have an idea what she was like when she was younger?" Ronaldo asked.

Priyanka smirked and chuckled.

"From what I know, she was a good girl." She said.

"Loved playing the Violin. Does she still play?"

Ronaldo and Steven exchanged glances. This was a sore topic.

"I've only seen her play once." Steven replied.

"But it only served to make her sad."

Priyanka hummed, expressing concern.

"A shame. But it might be a cause of contention. I would say the events of the fire must have traumatised her and playing the violin only brings up bad memories."

Looking to the side, Steven recalled the dreams as well as Pat's explanation of the events. She was playing the violin at the time of the accident. Steven knew horrible feelings could be brought on by certain triggers and acting differently out of an emotional response. Steven did not like to be called a program as it was a source of anger for himself. It would make sense that this caused Connie pain, not happiness. He suddenly felt selfish to ask her to do so and she did...going out in the middle of the night in search of an instrument, second hand and coming back drenched. What Steven didn't get now was why she played despite this new fact. Was it just to make him happy?

"She never played in front of people however, now that I go back further. So I'm amazed you were able to get her to play at all...in front of an audience."

An audience of one AI but still...

"I asked her to." Steven told her.

"So she asked me..."

The words were coming out so sheepishly.

"She asked me to learn how to play."

Priyanka blinked.

"Fascinating. You're not her assistant and you're saying you're her colleague...where were you designed may I ask?"

Steven froze, before looking at Ronaldo who was unsure what to say himself.

"That's classified." Steven answered.

Crossing her arms, she wasn't gonna fall for that statement.

"So you're an illegal AI then? Hoping to trick Connie like one of those Malware Scrappers?"

Malware Scrappers was a term reserved for either an AI or human who intentionally seek to do harm for fun or profit by inserting viruses to cause havok. More cleverly designed ones are sold in the black market as real functional AI's where the new owners are lead to believe they're buying a decent product, but really, the AI still serves the seller and aims to do some damage as part of their creators design. Steven's had to protect people from them with the Ancillas on occasion.

"I promise you I'm not a Scrapper." Steven assured her. He was about to open his mouth before Ronaldo interrupted.

"Steven's a Liaison." The man said.

"So legally he can't divulge his purpose."

Would she buy it? Priyanka appeared sceptical, but with a sigh, she had to relent.

"Very well." She said.

"But I need to know Connie is being protected; looked after. I know that sounds sentimental but the real Priyanka would want to see her happy."

Words that struck Steven more so. Another AI, theoretically more emotionally invested in Connie, for good reason and the simple desire to see the woman in a better state.

"I understand." He told Priyanka sternly.

"That's been my aim."

A truth and nothing more. He felt Connie deserved it and after everything he's heard so far, only fuelled his desire and hunt for anything that could assist that goal. Alongside his own. Because Connie was worth it...his feelings for the human were the strongest he's had that he's risked overclocking for her and found out more about the world through her (and Ronaldo) than he's had for the longest time. The taste of pizza...the feeling of the rain and the gushing winds. The sounds of music and all that provided. That's worth everything to Steven.

"You're definitely a unique one." She stated.

"If it is your true directive, then I do not need to be here."

What? No!

"Wait..." Steven called out.

"You're not gonna stick around when Connie wakes up?"

The Yellow construct frowned.

"Sadly I cannot." She answered...though her inflection said otherwise and the way she rubbed her arm was a human gesture for discomfort. Signature of any brain mapped AI is the continuation of habits.

"The very sight of me will cause Connie further distress. I was planning to be a consult but it seems she has the company to take care of her."

If only she knew...Connie hated the idea of people looking after her. Didn't want to appear weak.

"We're not her proxies." Ronaldo told her.

"We're just her associates just worried about her."'

Connie didn't like using the word friend either. Priyanka smiled either way.

"That's enough I'd say." She claimed.

In a way, it brought Steven enough to hope that Connie will see the light but...a long and tenuous journey would be afoot otherwise. Steven would dream of the day that the two would reconcile and Connie would get the closure she might have been trying hard to fight for, after all these years. It was an ambiguous situation if she that's what it was amounting to, especially her behaviour. Which lead Steven to ask...

"Okay then...oh before you go." He said.

"I want to know more about DM Biometrics. Do you have anything on them we're able to look into?"

Priyanka blinked.

"Uh...nothing specific comes to mind." She said, perplexed by the question.

"Why do you ask?"

Uncertain himself, but from what Pat was saying earlier on that it stuck to Steven's mind like glue.

"Connie did speak to them to do the uploading but that's not the reason why I'm asking." He said.

He paused...realizing that Pat never went into what she found before Steven was urged to check out what was going on with Connie. Damn it.

"Do they persuade people in giving up their brains?" Ronaldo said in his place.

An odd question but a valid one.

"Not that I'm aware of." Priyanka answered.

"The process is strictly voluntary. Either through living beings once they pass checks or they register themselves. Wills are also accepted."

So why did Connie volunteer? Her actions don't necessarily match up with what Priyanka was explaining. Steven ravaged his hard drive for any notable phrases Connie had made as of late:

_Dreams are incredible but they don't do much other than projecting everything your mind has the potential to create based on already existing information. Nothing unique...but your imagination and your subconscious throwing every dark cloud at you when you let it...and when you don't want it to..._

The dark clouds...that which would fog the mind and only think of the bad things in ones life to weigh one down. Connie wanted to control the flow of information in her own head but couldn't.

_Stuff that if I had the power to change the situation then I would...but...I need to accept the fact that I'm not gonna get it but it stings so bad._

A change of situation. Connie couldn't change something, something that was hurting her. Was it the incident?

_I figured the only solution was to become an AI to figure out how it worked...so that I would better be able to see through your eyes what it's like....and that the judgement of others wouldn't be so harsh..._

Steven wasn't sure if he was to believe that was the case. Connie wouldn't lie without a good reason. The concept of her double-jacking with him in the Domain was a redundant thing. Avatars have more power in the Domain if they have sufficient clearance and understanding of the Domain and its secrets. No human would ever want to give complete authority to machines. Connie would lose what power she already had and she wasn't stupid enough to put herself in a position where she was weaker.

 _I'm not in it for the overall gain. The challenge is what I lived for but...when stuff comes in the way and makes you question everything you've come to know, because you've done it for so long.._.

Unless it was the challenge itself that she was really after. Repetition gets boring for humans more than for AI's. Connie wanted something different.

_I found myself challenged by the one concept so alien to me ...and it took an AI who sees himself as a sentient being and I was so far out of touch and I hated it, that it was him, of all people, showing me..._

The challenge itself was unknown and Connie didn't like how hard it was...Steven wasn't sure what was making her so angry about it though.

_Steven...is there anything in your programming that allows you to....shut off certain emotions?_

Controlling emotions to pause or suppress. The anger and hurt itself...perhaps, becoming unbearable. Trickling through those quotes alone, his mind stumbled across the phone call which talked about stabilising and it brought alarm to Pat.

"What's stabilising?" Steven questioned, wanting to know more.

Priyanka blinked.

"Oh? Well, from the procedure the mind needs to be in the most tranquil state for the brain-mapping to work properly or risk the results with a faulty AI on the other end. Pills are used to ensure the brain is put into a state where emotions are greatly suppressed. Preventing it from freaking out. Even when the brain is taken out of the body, it still has to have enough of the substance within it so it's usually the case where donors have to periodically take the pills to have the best results."

That explained the pills Connie had and the way she was acting so out of character.

"What about dead donors?" Ronaldo queried, curious.

A question Steven didn't want to ask because he wasn't even thinking about it...only trying to piece together everything. But Priyanka was able to answer.

"The brain has to have slight injections at measured intervals. If done swiftly and done with care and caution, the brain is quickly taken out of the donor and given the substance in liquid form. The scientist puts in enough for the brain to calm down. While the body is long gone, the brain still has enough activity and use for the mapping to work. The longer you wait to map it, the further the brain deteriorates...and it makes for a shoddy, buggy AI that doesn't even remotely resemble the original donor in personality or form."

Scary stuff that Steven gulp. He hadn't even known about brain-mapping until recently and this terrified him. And Connie was willing because she was in pain and didn't want to feel anything anymore.

"You seem to know a lot and are pretty okay with something that happened to you." Steven acknowledged.

Priyanka shrugged.

"I'm....Priyanka was a Doctor...she was aware of the process itself, having worked for DM Biometrics herself for a limited time. But nothing extravagant. They had her there sometimes to do brain tests to make sure the brains that were being used were optimal. What counts as optimal is a very...lets say, depressing series of events."

Steven would imagine criteria having being fulfilled, like what with Pat said, that the Soulware used had to be of a decent grading.

"Even after I was made, I was being used for a short while as an example template. Comparisons for later versions to be used against."

Interesting.

"Do you still talk to anyone from there?" Ronaldo wondered.

Great question...perhaps this would get them a little bit more info. Not necessarily for Connie, but for Steven's situation.

"I go to them from checks at least every one to two months." She replied.

"Just maintenance really, as you would know. A MIC must also be given updated reports on latest medical breakthroughs and adjustments. I have to be at the top of my form, after all."

That was a bit alarming. Steven's never had maintenance...he's heard of it but he's never had it. The Ancillas would say he's up to date...or what ever that meant. While it did nerve him, he had to gather the courage to ask her something she may or may not even be able to do.

Something dangerous.

"I uh...I was wondering..." He said, anxious...before, again Ronaldo stepped in.

"We were wondering if they were aware that Connie was Priyanka's daughter...of course they would jump at a descendant with an immaculate brain...how horrendous!"

Steven looked at him strangely...that wasn't what he was going to ask at all.

"I wouldn't really know." Priyanka answered.

"My colleague who deals with special donor cases was the one who tipped me off about a failed self-termination. Those who don't go through with the whole thing. You'd be surprised how common that is..."

The feeling of giving ones self up for the sake of what...science? Ascension? Steven didn't like the fact people preferred to go out like that. It rubbed him the wrong way. 

"I know I shouldn't be asking this but..." Steven stated, worried that such a question would offend.

"Did you see Connie doing this because..."

Priyanka shook her head to disclaim anything else he was going to assume.

"If you're asking me if Priyanka knew this was going to happen I would say definitely not. Connie does not know I exist. The fact she chose this path for herself worries me greatly because a lot of people get rejected for this because of reasons like their mental instability and what not. Hmm..now that I think about, DM Biometrics approving this if Connie is in such a state of mind does cause alarm."

Great...more to be worried about. 

"Even with the stabilisers?" Steven put forth. From what Steven witnessed, they were doing their job.

The statement made the other AI sigh.

"Suppression of emotions is one thing, but the mind itself can genuinely be affected by chemicals in the brain. Serotonin, dopamine,etc. Humans have all this chemistry in their heads that be thrown off balance. People can't help it due to stressful situations they find themselves in which is generally a part of the human experience."

Complex. No wonder Connie wanted to get rid of it.

"AI's can simulate and emulate emotions like humans but not to the same extent. Brain-Mapped AI's are scanned according to the current state of the mind at that point. But there will always be parts of it that will slip through. Not a bad thing; depending on the individual you can get all sorts of results. So those AIs will be sent through to different areas to perform their primary function."

Evidence enough with Priyanka's current position. A point Steven wanted to stress with the Ancillas but they too, were without true answer. People could speculate but never be able to know for sure.

"So it's true then..." Ronaldo said with sadness.

What was?

"What do you mean?" Steven wondered.

Not everything was as obvious to Steven however. He could know when something was wrong but not understand how or why. His hunger for this type of knowledge; the grey between the black and white. Gaps unfilled because of who he was...

_How I feel. Is lost...twisted...churned...fucked up...feelings I don't want anymore._

"Connie...she didn't do this because she was genuinely wanting to become an AI. She was doing it because she couldn't stand existing with what she was feeling...she had enough." Ronaldo answered.

Terms Steven was unable to fully grasp unless the term of hacking into her emotions was an idea.

"I don't get it." He said, scratching his head.

And the look on the projected Priyanka's face was similar.

"We don't understand it fully because our inhibitors are designed to suppress human aspects of our emotions. Absolute sorrow is something that presents a great risk to our functionality. Connie was at breaking point...I feel like I should have intervened a lot sooner."

No. Or yes...she should have....and that pissed Steven off more than it was supposed to.

"Yes you should have." He said, jousting at her with his finger.

"It doesn't matter if you're not really her Mom. Maybe things could have gone differently...because you would still be family in some way shape or form."

And they wouldn't have gotten to this point. Connie wouldn't have resorted to this...wouldn't have gone to absolute sorrow.

"I wish it was that easy." Priyanka stated.

"AI's cop flak from all walks of life. That would have hurt Connie more just to see a facsimile.."

No. Steven refused to wallow down to that 'just a program' crap.

"But you didn't even _try!_ " He called out, his frustrations noted in his stance as he continued to chastise her.

"You could have told her that her Mom would have been proud or-or that she wanted to her to continue to play the violin...you should been a part of her life, in the very least."

Circumstances and variances in what they were...what they were capable of. Besides personalities, there was little AI's had in common with humanity. Steven made the attempt because he wanted to...because he found humans fascinating and worthy to admire...

"I couldn't take the chance." Priyanka admitted...feeling regret.

"People have tried to do such things in the past. Many AI's left deactivated because they didn't satisfy the needs of their owners or they weren't perfect copies of their loved ones. I'll admit it's a flawed system and I warn anyone that the AI will not be a perfect replica. Still people insist and I've seen so many end up being disappointed."

Connie said stuff about needs and wants and mixing them up constantly...and that Steven himself...began the trail of doubt. What if...he was just a discarded and salvaged AI himself? He didn't fulfil his real role and was just made of scraps or missing code filled with bits and pieces. It really began to bother him. He looked at his holographic hands of magenta shades...those lines of code. Imperfect, adjusted, recoded, rewritten. A mistake that was given pity by superior programs.

"But you're here now." Steven continued, eventually looking at Priyanka.

"Connie's going through this... absolute sorrow. She needs the support."

Pri lifted her chin up a tad.

"She has that, clearly." She admitted.

"I've never met an AI like you. Your perception...you've been around Connie long enough for a thesis to formulate. This thesis tells you to adjust the mindset and take the theoretical leap of faith in the low-chance that in a way, Connie will be accepting?"

Accepting is a common issue with programs. Between humans and the beings they see nothing more than lengthy and complex lines of code, AI's know their place in the Domain and the Grids they dwell in. They are born with a purpose and will act according to how they were written. Their evolving matrices are meant to curtail issues and bugs and reporting the more dire ones to their creators are the general rule of thumb. Priyanka, however was an AI like him. She had the human code in her intentionally...and humans do have the ability to feel compassion and respect. Put into their simulated brethren makes for their kind to be the fringe between reality and the digital world.

"Steven has been with Connie the most recently." Ronaldo said to her.

"But you have a point too. Society isn't ready to accept Artificial Intelligence as people. It's been a subject of controversy for as long as I can remember."

Priyanka nodded in agreement.

"Petitions notwithstanding...some try, like you but never succeed...too much prejudice and anger. Even if we don't like it, we must accept the fact we'll never be seen as equals. They are the ones who designed us after all."

Steven still wouldn't stand for it.

"So we need to keep trying." He said.

"Connie...comes and goes with the stuff I tell her about and the stuff she tells me. She's shown me the outlandish and I have given what I can within my range to provide....so...if you want to take that leap of faith....then please talk to her. There's only really two ways you'll know if she's willing or not."

And the chances for either were basically fifty-fifty. Connie saying that Steven was someone stuck with him, providing him the evidence needed that she could possibly accept Priyanka the AI. If it will make her happy would be up for debate but taking this first step was gonna determine the outcome either way.

"Hmm...sounds logical. I don't want hurt Connie any further than she already has been." Priyanka said.

And again, the niche of fear was such a human aspect as well. Priyankas programming warning her of the consequences but Steven had narrowed it down. There was still risk, but there was also reward. To get Connie away from Absolute Sorrow.

"As you said, she already has support. We just have to be careful."

* * *

Not long after they returned to Connie's room. Ronaldo had fallen asleep on the nearby chair as it was around 2:15 am. Steven and Priyanka were on their opposite bedside tables with his eyes on Connie's slowly rising and falling chest and Priyankas on Connie's vitals. Nurses came and adjusted the intake of what Connie was being inserted with and would state she would wake soon...or on her own accord before letting them be. Steven couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through her head...whether or not she was dreaming...

"I didn't sense much while I was double jacking..." Steven muttered to Pri.

The other AI was at odds with what he was telling her. Double Jacking was known but not exactly a common activity. Priyanka's nature of a Doctor had her wanting to know this specific AI, while he couldn't say where he had come from, wonder his purpose is. She knew fellow Brain-Mapped AI's and their duties in other roles and was prepared to question anyone who knew this Steven. DM Biometrics hadn't had anyone of his like and design that she could trace. Some AI had to have seen him, however.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

All the parts he felt with her. The sensations...but he never felt the absolute sorrow.

"Connie's feelings...some were intense...some were just null."

Priyanka pursed her lips.

"A scenario unfortunately seen quite often. Better days are said to be when you feel nothing at all."

How awful. Absolute Sorrow or Absolute Nothingness...AI's can function at zero emotive processing so the cortex itself if it was shut down wasn't a massive issue but it could have them at fault for split second decision making down the line, especially when it came to lives being at stake. 

"Do you think she can be happy?" He asked.

Priyanka crossed her arms and and looked at the pale woman before them.

"I can't say. It's up to Connie to say that." She replied.

"For some people its easy...for others, they have to make the effort themselves to get better. I figure, it will be a tough fight."

But with the more support, Steven could see their chances increasing tremendously. Connie doesn't have to do it alone. With that, their eyes went on Connie batting her eyelids and struggling to keep them open. It took her a moment for her consciousness to take heed and for her mind to formulate its state of awareness. Looking around, she could see Ronaldo, Steven and Priyanka in her vision. If Steven had a heart, it would have skipped a beat somewhere surely, because an emotion resembling fear took hold in Connie's reaction to where it could be anything...so they had to tread with Absolute Caution.

"Eh...where am I?" She asked, voice croaky.

"You're at the Hospital." Steven answered with a faint smile.

"How are you?"

Connie sat up slowly, wobbly in the arms and felt her forehead, straining against confusion. She looked completely wiped, licking her chapped lips and left grasping at the bare minimum of comprehension. 

"Fucked." She said bluntly.

"Why the fu- oh."

Memories of her conversation with Steven beforehand prevented Connie from bursting out in a tantrum. There was the quick fill of the bottle to explode at someone, but seeing Steven standing there triggering their earlier conversation and had her finally realise what was going on.

"You know how much that set cost? Ugh...."

She had the same attitude at least. A good or bad sign? Steven couldn't tell. Suddenly the atmosphere was tense and awkward with reading the room being impossible for anyone. Steven had to say something,

"Connie, there's someone you should meet." He told her, gesturing towards Priyanka.

Rubbing her eyes, Connie glanced at the yellow AI. Steven watched the whole interaction at a slower, tense pace. Connie blinking to make sure the light absorbed was what she was seeing. The hologram, standing there with a stoic expression with her hands behind her back. All the pulsing lines and the code that ran through the near translucent form. It took humans longer to visualise and translate what they were seeing to sustain a belief and the knowledge of what they even looking at. A piece of art with many people taking turns interpreting the meaning.

Garnet used to talk about perception of humans and AI's and even GIS. An AI is built with what they were supposed to know and their sight to correlate with their design to make factual judgement based on what they made for. Art in itself was the most difficult for them to perceive. An AI can tell you based on scans and history who made the art, the name of the artwork, what materials were used and a blurb or two of its description. But they can't tell you what they're supposed to feel from it. A painting, a statue, a poem, a story...if asked for the meaning or what they think it means is lost on them. They do not have the framework to interpret because of the design lack statements for probability, actuality and truth. There is no right or wrong answer if you have basis backing up such theories. AI's had no need for what wasn't a fact. Feelings were feelings because they're responsible for ulterior drivers. To protect their creators. To guide their creators and to know if some state their displeasure and so will find something for their creators tastes.

What ever makes their creators happy. Art in itself, an expression of the creators way to display emotions or meanings in ways AI's weren't able to find the capacity to know right away...unless their creators told them what it meant. It didn't mean that they would still understand it. Only that the work was meant to emulate a certain emotion or story. Procuring facts to make logical conclusions. But never their own, unique outlook. 

Steven could, for what ever reason, see expressions and make conclusions himself, not always but it could give wordless answers through uncertain feelings. Feel something from those expressions. AI's could possibly do the things they weren't they could. It wasn't about impossibles. AI's were written for probabilities for one purpose but it could be used for much more. And so with what power he had, could see Connie's face curved in the perplexing nature of the AI she was looking at...the sight of her own memory putting the pieces together. But, like an AI, she couldn't get the words out to say what she wanted to, like there was no name for the emotion she was experiencing.

"Hello Connie." Said Priyanka, breaking the silence.

Glimpsing at her twitchy fingers, Steven saw that Connie wanted to something, but wasn't sure how to react herself.

"Hi." She said in return, her voice still weak.

Priyanka didn't show it, but she herself was feeling quite nervous.

"Do you know who I am?" Priyanka asked.

The hum of the hospital lighting machinery and the heart monitor were the only ambient noises in the answer that followed. Connie looked at her hands, before she looked at Steven and Ronaldo. The latter nodded, as he took Steven whom, didn't understand it first, but...from what ever look Steven wasn't sure it was but it was a message onto itself and left the room to leave Connie and Priyanka by themselves to talk.

* * *

Back in the waiting area, Ronaldo was definitely deep in thought about it all. At least Steven didn't fear about asking what was on his mind.

"Don't hold out on me Ron." Steven asked.

The man leaned over, his eyes looking at the opposing white wall before his attention shift back to Steven sitting on the table.

"Makes me wonder how many Brain-Mapped AI's there are in existence like Connie's Mom that hold this need to see their loved ones again."

A need. AI's do not need unless it served a purpose.

"Erasing memories....Connie wanted to forget." Steven told him.

"Forget what happened to her and her family...and forget me."

Ronaldo furrowed his brows.

"Forget what happened back then...yeah, that I can see....something as awful as losing those close to you would feel horrible and would weigh on you heavily. But you?"

Steven thought it was strange too.

"Yeah I'm not sure why...I'm not giving Connie what she needs...and she's like, I want to be an AI to see things through your perspective...trust me...I have a hard time wrapping my head around AI stuff more than I have with human contexts."

Ronaldo nodded in understanding.

"Some BM AI's have problems like that due to have issues adjusting. Priyanka is a good example of one making the best attempts to understand because she was prepared for what was to come. The good and the bad. I wonder if the real Steven, if thats his real name...had either involuntary and voluntary memory adjustments because the process behind your creation was obviously too traumatic for him to handle."

A statement Ronaldo talked about earlier and formed the theory that Steven had considered. The Ancillas tried but came up with nothing.

"It's possible but...." Steven stated.

All Steven had were feelings. Feelings he couldn't describe. Parts of his life that told him that the Ancillas were good people. That there were bad people in the world like Kevin...and wonderful people like Ronaldo and Connie that he was glad to be friends with. Connie wouldn't admit it, but Steven's made the presumptions of their communication being on the level of friendship. Or so his own research has told him.

His own past was basically nothing. Nothing to show, nothing direct or obvious or even ambiguous. Nothing to trace, nothing for him to jump through, node for node.

"I know Connie can help me. I know you can help me. I can't do this on my own. But...we also need to help each other. I also think Priyanka's insight will be welcomed."

And the probability of it all would sure increase.

"I'm not sure how many AI's I can handle being around with right now without PeriCom noticing." Ronaldo said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"But you're...you're not wrong. Having someone connected to a well established company and subsidiary could assist in the tracing part. If Pat stipulates a lead then we'd be fools to ignore it. Just need to make sure what we only disclose data to others that aren't risky to provide. So don't give too much away too soon either..."

Which explained why Ronaldo stopped Steven from giving his status as an unknown to Priyanka. Yes, she was a template based off Connie's mother but protocols they couldn't see, like if DM Biometrics or even PeriCom had be tracking the AI as she moved about. Pearl warned him about the dangers of meeting AI's allied with larger companies that they were associated with and to ensure that they didn't pose a threat to their goal. Or else PeriCom would definitely be after Steven for real.

Coupled with Lapis' documents about the decay of the Domain, he would certainly think that it was enough payment to consider himself with enough credit with the Data Broker, considering that it was because of her Connie was still alive. He would have to procure more information to sell to her in order to get what he required. Maintaining connections, prioritising those he felt close to as well as those whom have shown their merit. Steven clearly had a lot more work ahead of him and his eyes tracked the closed off room and was left at odds as to what Connie and Priyanka were talking about.

"We'll need all the help we can get." Steven said.

"But..."

As Connie was his main priority at the moment. Technically on an official, professional surface level, he was her Personal Assistant. Unofficially, they were indeed friends...allies minimum. But he couldn't help the feelings within himself, even with dampeners and protocols and subroutines, there was a command on all its own, directing his emotional connections to Connie in ways he's never felt before. It was like it was embedded into his metaphysical motherboard. It was a form and function, a requirement and irremovable sequence that just....was it always there?

"She's still tough." Ronaldo assured him.

"Maybe this wasn't her way of giving up...but rather giving in to something she might have been attempting to resolve for a while."

Humans were weird. But that's why he liked them so much. The abstract, the guessing without real answers. Humanity is Art.

"Talking with a AI duplicate of her mother. I'm confident it will change things for her."

Steven would anticipate it as such, but the logics found to him caused him to worry briefly.

"There's no screaming or shouting." He commented.

"I was putting in the equation of Connie's reaction...if she was going to be angry or happy..."

Ronaldo shrugged.

"Neither I'd say." He concluded.

This was why he needed Ronaldo too. Could always figure out another answer not in the equation.

"It's an addition to the knowledge that Connie may or may not have been needing this entire time. I remember when Mom died and it was through her doctors that we were granted closure. Giving her enough time to talk to each of us before she passed on."

Steven recalled Ronaldo saying his mother was dying of cancer when Ron was a lot younger and his brother Peedee was a toddler and couldn't understand why his mother was going away and not coming back. The Doctor put into terms he understood, about the Heavens needing to recruit angels and that his mother would still watch over them there and would want her children to be strong. It was a weird explanation but Peedee had found that reassuring, but still a bit confusing.

"Connie will recover. She just has to choose how she wants to...and if she wants to."

There had to be something better than wallowing in the misery that had formed. No one would desire to be left in Absolute Sorrow all their lives and risk devastation. Steven trusted Ronaldo's advice and would prefer to dwell in the premise of hope that Connie would want better for herself.

"That's her decision to make. We can only do so much."

A truth that was definitely clear to Steven....as they would wait for the outcome of their conversation, while looking at the random painting of pink roses on the nearby wall and went to work deciphering their meaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AI Lore feat. Medical Intelligence Consultant (MIC) Priyanka:
> 
> Absolute Sorrow is Depression, but to an AI is in the deepest depths of sadness that an AI can take before its starts to glitch. There are other versions like Absolute Anger and Absolute Happiness. A peak emotional tier that if anything higher than that can have dire effects, temporary or permanent that varies from AI to AI. Brain-Mapped AI's have a better understanding of their emotions and tolerate better extremes. However, all AI's must have emotional dampeners installed to prevent the extremes from happening too often so being neutral was a default expression.  
> As for GIS...no one really knows their programming 100% but its generally accepted that they're beyond anything normal humans can create and if companies like PeriCom who find them and successfully 'recruit' they are used to do the more taxing workloads across the Domain, like Lapis Lazulis.


	14. Task Manager

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie reflects on her conversation with her AI who happens to be her mother...

Once Connie was given the all clear the following day, she was allowed to return back to her apartment.

Priyanka had to return back to her hospital but promised to keep in contact with Connie otherwise. As the woman stood inside her dark apartment after being dropped off by Ronaldo, she contemplated everything put before her. There was no doubt that this had changed Connie and had her gunning down on her own thoughts on what to do next. Steven had gone back with Ronaldo, still honouring her request to stay at his until they were ready to talk about it all. 

There was a bit of uncertainty crowded in her muggy head. The humidity of her own thoughts not unbearable but it did make her uncomfortable. She was tired, but could not sleep. The medications and the flushing out of the drugs and nanites was an exhausting experience that had her be a bit groggy. The loneliness didn't help distract any of this and Steven had offered to come back to her apartment if she wanted him to. No...she needed the space and the space to think clearly about her actions and her actions moving forward.

The day itself was overcast and rainy, with Connie's eyes aimlessly looking out the window. Her posture standing there was poor and she struggled to keep her eyes opened...with a mouth half gaped and eyes half way drawn and almost squinting like. She was hollow and left thinking on how she should feel, instead of feeling weak and aching. She had to promise both Ronaldo and Steven that she was going to take care of herself after a bit of convincing and that she contact Steven as soon as she was able to.

Instead Connie's eyes travelled across the quiet apartment, scanning the bags of stuff she left and eventually the stand for Steven's CPD on the bench...then towards the open door to the bathroom. By this point she was running on auto-pilot and other drugs as she turned to close and lock the front door. Doing so, she leaned forward slightly and rested her forehead against the door and ran her hand down it very slowly. What was she getting herself into?

She was there for about a minute, mind hardly being able to get past the fog. The temporary amount of control she had, she used to drag herself, inclusive of dragging her feet across the carpet, towards the couch in the lounge area and collapsing face first into the cushions.

Again, she laid there for another hot minute, before shifting her head to the side to look at the tv. Nothing was on...only her projection of her conversation in the hospital with what she deemed to be the most unexpected of all individuals to bounce into her life...

* * *

It was a very...complex situation. It was the face of a woman she's not seen in years and technically should have been impossible. Right there, in front of her, was the yellow shade of her mother.  
Priyanka made it clear in their proceeding conversation that she knew she wasn't her real mother, but for what it was worth, that she can't help but love Connie anyway.

"So..." Said Priyanka shortly after Steven and Ronaldo left the room. He was good at reading the atmosphere, as some humans were really good at knowing certain requests without words being exchanged.

"I'm sure you've got plenty of questions. I'll answer as best I can."

If what had been said was true, then the Connie she knew and the Connie in the bed were two different people.

"You know, I don't even know what to ask." She said.

What could she ask when her own feelings were left in a complete whirlwind. After everything, this wasn't exactly the worst part...it was actually, more welcoming in a strange, complicated way. Priyanka went back to assumptions she's known for patients and doctors and nurses and strangers that ask her. Those left succumbing to the curiosity surrounding AI's in general.

"Do you want me to spare the details? I can give you the short story or the long story..."

Connie just looked down at herself. Questions left unanswered and buried for many years. The fire itself, Connie knew what happened. They were stuck in the house and couldn't get out. It was more simple than most would make it out to be...and that's the most tragic part. Connie couldn't control the weather so it was just, over all bad luck. Connie resolved to ensure that bad luck wasn't going to stop her...but her time in Foster care left more to be desired.

"Spare me and I'll spare you." Connie told her.

"Let's see...Foster care fucked me up. I put up with shit awful foster parents and their shit awful kids....and yet you were in existence this whole time..."

Connie wanted to be angry but...she understood this AI was her own separate conscience with her own thoughts and feelings. It wasn't her fault. Though she did find it strange however men in black suits showed up when the ambulances arrived to take one of the covered gurneys away into an unmarked black van.

"The fucking system is a joke."

Priyanka was somewhat relieved that Connie wasn't angry at her, though.

"But I had no idea you...no idea Mom volunteered for the upload."

The AI nodded. She concluded Connie couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mothers head at the time. Youth left wondering what was and could never be.

"At your age, you wouldn't have been able to understand." She said.

"They recommended against sentimental attachments. It would have caused too much bias in my learning algorithms."

Connie had to think logically on this. No government in the world would allow a lone AI raise children. It wouldn't work if they didn't classify AI's as registered members of society. It was unheard of. In any other scenario Connie would have been in a fitful rage but...spending time with Steven changed her entire idea of AI's as mere programs. She'd come to accept Steven as his own...individual with more humanity within him than most people she'd met. Including the scum of the Domain and beyond.

"I'm sure Mom would be disappointed that her only daughter became a relentless Hacker instead of someone actually useful to society." Connie said.

Knowing Connie was alive was good enough for Priyanka.

"She might have been but...being able to see you again would have brought her the greatest joy." The latter said with a warm tone.

"And would have apologised for the circumstances that put you through all that. On her behalf, I apologise."

No. She didn't have to. Connie had to tell herself not to place blame.

"You...had no immediate family close by....and she didn't anticipate dying so soon. She wanted to see you grow up and become a lovely young woman before her time was up naturally."

As did Connie...who began to feel awful and guilty as she huddled in and wrapped her arms around herself; hunching over slightly as tears dropped onto the blanket while she sobbed.

"You...don't need to apologise when nothing is your fault." Connie told her.

"I had all this time and resources and I fucking...."

Connie burst into tears, the turmoil overwhelming her to the point where she couldn't utter words. She was exhausted and tired of being like this massive mess that became harder and harder to clean up each time.

"Trust me when I say when I heard you were in hospital I dropped everything to be with you." Priyanka assured her.

"My colleagues questioned my ambitions to someone who they knew wasn't really my daughter but truthfully? I wanted to see you and talk to you...if circumstances were different...and whether or not you would accept me."

Connie forced herself to stop crying and wiped her eyes with the back of her arm. Acceptance...fearful of someone pretending to be her mother would have pissed Connie of greatly and so she would have been correct to assume so. Societal norms with AI's like this to try and disengage AI's from their templates families for reasons Priyanka had explained to her. People had tried but with the amount of treatment these AI's would get ended with PeriCom putting in a Relation Policy, preventing BM-AI's from being sold and sent to next of kin. Too much time, money and effort spent on the resources to make them, only for some to become too faulty and broken with chips and cabinets being thrown away. PeriCom did not want any AI, no matter how flawed, to be chucked away. Only sent back for observation and restoration for reasons PeriCom state is to re-purpose them to serve the Domain. However, many were still for one reason or another.

More than she would like to admit, her relationship with Steven did have her beliefs change somewhat. AIs were definitely capable and were thinkers and creators...not that any official statement would say otherwise. Steven made it abundantly clear that he wasn't just a program and that became part of Connie's reason (of many) to become one herself. Losing herself, to give Steven someone he could connect with properly, without judgement. Fuck humanity and all that, they didn't need her. Though in turn, the loss itself was an unknown to Connie and that kind of scared her.

"You are who you are...AI or not." Connie told her.

"If that's what Mom wanted then it would be selfish of me to ask for more than that."

If only Connie could see herself that way.

"I mean, it's not perfect but...I think...you being here is...well..."

The word bashful didn't come across Connie's vocabulary or expression all that often.

"I...think it's better that you did exist rather than you didn't. You were a part of Mom after all."

Like Eve from Adams rib.

"And so were you." Priyanka said.

"You can't erase precious moments like from when you were born...from seeing the twinkle in your eyes from when they got you that violin for your birthday."

Connie's chest hurt. For good reasons.

"Or when Dad offering to help me practice by learning the piano...but he was so bad at it."

Priyanka chuckled in fond remembrance.

"Yes and he wanted to play that fun, silly music from westerns like he was in some bar with cowboys."

Upon recalling his failed attempts, it had Connie laugh for the first time in a while. Wholeheartedly and it was infectious that Priyanka started to laugh alongside her.

"All he needed was the curly moustache..." Priyanka continued.

It was definitely refreshing to laugh about the old times of her youth. He was, in a sense the only one missing from this family right now and had Connie ask an odd question.

"How come you didn't convince...I mean, why didn't Mom convince Dad to go in that direction as well?"

Priyanka sighed. The selection process and criteria required had certain requirements.

"Your father wasn't considered on the same intellectual level." She said with sadness.

"I mean, he wasn't dumb...he was definitely smart in his own way. His Soulware wasn't exactly at the right level they wanted either."

That sounds about right.

"Which reminds me...let me check yours..."

She summoned a screen in front of her to check Connie's vitals and medical history. Most places don't always check for Soulware status but one can opt in to update that voluntarily on their private medical database if that had their Domain Port upgraded with the optional addition of medical reports. Connie's done that consistently for reasons regarding eligibility in certain areas, but she can also alter it on a whim. (You're not supposed to unless a Doctor signs off on it first). Her plan was to put in a false report so she wouldn't have been screened for certain conditions and that irregardless of circumstances; she was going to allow the AI to be made...if she had gone through with it.

"An S grade. Huh...is that natural?" Priyanka wondered.

Connie blushed and pursed her lips, while scratching her cheek with the faint tip of her index finger as the instant recollection of Steven's..ahem...upgrade put her up one grade.

"That was because of Steven..."

Priyanka froze.

"Steven? As in..."

Yup. The Pink AI hopefully in the waiting room with Ronaldo.

"Yeah...it's a long story." Connie admitted.

Priyankas seen such reactions like Connie's before and that wasn't what Priyanka was a bit confused about.

"I've never heard of any AI being able to upgrade someones Soulware before. You are born with what ever rating you have and luck and randomness and the odd individual being able to upgrade outside the Domain if it worked within that tiny chance of it happening...all those possibly would gift you a higher grading along the line but to forcibly update someone? I mean, your father was a C Grade but he never cared too much for the Domain anyway. Your mother was an SS from birth."

Impressive. Explained why they wanted her brain so much.

"May I ask, if it's not too sensitive a topic." She said.

"Where did you obtain Steven?"

Connie went on to explain that he found her. She was on a job in the Domain and was running away from what she believed was terrifying renegade GIS after she tried to get a program back from them. Steven found her and protected her and gave her the program to give to her client. She thought he was an ordinary human until he admitted he was an AI. A story Pri found fascinating.

"So you didn't purchase him...and you're helping him find answers to his making. Interesting." She said, rubbing her chin.

Connie left out the part of his partnership with the Ancillas. She wasn't going to risk it.

"He did seem hesitant before about telling me who his maker was. But if he doesn't know...hmmm..."

After all that Steven has gone through himself, especially with putting up with Connie's shit and his attempts to get her to stop this self-termination, the least Connie could do was protect him. Anything else was strictly business. But even that was hard to enact.

"You're not going to report him are you?" Connie said, a bit concerned.

Priyanka shook her head.

"Of course not." She replied.

"The benefit of being made from a human is the human concept of instinct. I can see Steven isn't malicious or doing anything malicious. Any older generation of AI would report him on the spot, only because he was illegal or not with a registered owner. But something tells me he's meant for something greater."

And she could determine that?

"Besides, for all intents and purposes, he does have an owner...and surprisingly, he functions more than a PA should; he genuinely cares about you."

Something he's stated before. Connie's stuck in that realm of disbelief.

"Which begs the question. Did you want to upload yourself to the Domain in order to be with him?"

Connie swore her heart stopped...and the heart monitor itself actually said it was going faster a tiny bit. She blushed furiously as she crossed her arms and looked away from the yellow AI.

"Fuck no." Connie answered roughly.

A smirk crept up on Pri's face. Her daughter might lie, cheat and steal to further her own ends, but Priyanka still had the emotional imprint of the original and could recognise Connie's more than obvious expression as evidence to the contrary.

"He's not in here. You can be honest with me." She offered.

"I may be a doctor, but I can still act like a overbearing mother."

Connie snickered. True, but she preferred that, instead of old hags who basically sat on her ass all day smoking cigarettes and making Connie grab their beers. Still, a little bit of venting wouldn't hurt. If anything Priyanka would probably understand this more so...if this Priyanka was still in love with her father.

"Fine." Connie said, exhaling loudly.

"Look...word gets out..."

Priyanka grinned crossed her arms.

"Doctors confidentiality is even more enforced in data form." She assured her.

"I'll seal it deep within the depths of my Kernel Core so not even DM Biometrics can fish it out of me."

Because that was reassuring...still...memories of the old days convinced Connie that she could be trusted. She was nothing but warm and kind...like the real mother she used to know. Connie struggled to relent initially and even admitting this herself was one of the hardest endeavours shes ever had to face. She sighed.

"Very well" Connie said sternly.

"Only if I get to call you Mom."

Priyanka wasn't expecting that...she'd spent a great deal of her own thoughts trying to convince herself otherwise. Hearing Connie say that of all things...it all suddenly came undone in the blink of an eye.

"And I will call you honey or sweetie like I used to." She said, already shifting gears into it.

"Now...tell me...please."

Her heart began to race faster at the very thought of telling this...

"You see.." She said, scrunching the blanet in her hand.

"I don't know...exactly when it started...but...I was a fool to believe it was true but the thing about being human Mom is...emotions get the better of you. You can't control how you feel half the time and it's like an on off switch that's haunted by a poltergeist."

Priyanka suspected as much. Connie didn't have to say it.

"I understand." She said.

"And I get why you're upset. It wouldn't be a good look."  
And that's what Steven didn't get. Human and AI relationships were unheard of and if they were, they were brief or very limited and that even with PeriComs clause about such matters requires a rejuvenation to reset the AI to erase risky memories or emotions.

"But it wouldn't have been you in there. It would be someone who goes by the name Connie. But not everyone who is brain-mapped isn't exactly the same individual. If Steven is who he is because he allowed his emotions to develop as his original human psyche then he would notice that it isn't the same Connie he encountered by chance in the Domain."

Which made Connie feel worse about Steven's scenario. If he was brain-mapped, then where did he come from? She sat back and pressed her finger tips together and bounced them...the sign of her nerves being a bit shaky.

"There's the human in all of us that can notice those flaws, when something isn't quite right. Our matrices pick up on this quicker than most older generations but we're not meant to question it unless asked."

Then why was she? 

"Mom...your curiosity about my own... "

Her eyes darted to the right for that brief moment....and bit her lip gently as she tried to get out the word to where she had struggled to convey.

" _Fffffeelings._...is that something you would encourage?"

A weird question bought out of a place so desperate for clarification that Connie would dive on any excuse to explore. 

"I-I mean, yeah...no...no it's stupid. It's stupid, it's wrong and I hate myself for becoming this trash heap excuse for a Hacker...I.."

If Priyanka could comfort her daughter via touch she would, the visage of Connie tearing herself apart like this because of what her heart really desired was blocked by legislation and cross-species issues and hate.

"You'd think for all the peoples lives I tear into and I can't tear into my own and remove the one part that hurts like hell and..."

The heart monitor beeped a bit quicker now. Priyanka had to calm her down before the nurses would interfere, as Connie hunched over with her fingers almost squeezing her own scalp as more tears flowed in the tense bout of distress.

"Connie, sweetie please..." Pri said, using her higher tones to reassure her.

It was a dilemma for sure. Priyanka had to see it from several angles to make the right call. As an AI. As a Doctor. As a Woman. As a Wife and as a mother...but most importantly, as a human.

"You can _still_ spend time together. Surely you can work around this problem-"

Connie moved her hands, but made a fist with one and gently whacked her forehead repeatedly.

"I called out his name during sex Mom." She admitted drily.

"It was outright humiliating...how the hell can I function if he's like, on my mind twenty-four seven? If I see and imagine his face on every guy I fuck?"

Normally Priyanka would be outright terrified of what her daughter was saying, but used her Doctor angle with this part. She had to.

"That is troubling...but it is, what it is Connie and you know it. Sounds like you're going to talk to Steven about this sooner or later...if you feel it's going to get worse."

Connie sighed, becoming a bit more relaxed strangely enough as her heart rate started to ease back a little.

"Maybe...look... I just needed to vent. I had never told anyone that before." She said, her voice soft.

Priyanka smiled. She felt pride in knowing Connie had placed this much trust in her. More than she had anticipated.

"Emotions like these are normal. You're a young woman who I imagine has a healthy libido and Steven is definitely not just another human male that can satisfy those needs."

Reminded Connie too much of that conversation they had before.

"Has Steven said anything to you about...his side? To me, he looks as if he's ready to put all the cards on the table just for your sake."

She's heard that too. Steven had been wanted to give for Connie as she had given through all the shared experiences. It was admirable...to a fault.

"He claims he feels something for me and suspects I for him. My pride didn't want me to admit that he was right." Connie replied, scratching her arm as she blushed.

"I'd want to give in but..."

Connie did the right step to try to resist. But it's gotten to the point where it's gone too far for Connie to go anywhere else. Which lead Priyanka to advise something quite alarming in context of everything her core beliefs and knowledge told her to go against. Different angles had different opinions but...

_If you want to take that leap of faith..._

AI's don't use that word often and Steven had her outright questioning what Priyanka had been told about their kind. Not just Brain-Mapped but...again, her matrices picked up more than their fair share of obscure hints just from the observations alone. His questions about DM Biometrics for example, told her he wasn't made by them and the revelation of his unknown origins as well as his connections to Connie and his ability to uplift Soulware was unseen in the circles Priyanka had been with on behalf of her owners...Priyanka decided she had to do a little bit of investigating on her end as well.

"Look, I'm going to possibly get in trouble for saying this...but...please talk to him. There's always a will and way in this day and age and you're clever enough to discover new ways to transcend. When your mother went to work, your father would always tell her to 'Make waves. Change the world'."

Connie snorted.

"He was so dorky..." She said with a smirk.

He was.

"But he was so lovable." Priyanka admitted with fondness. If what she felt for Doug still existed then potential for Steven's own for Connie was likely to be on a similar wavelength. 

"But it's your turn now. Show the world Connie Maheswaran isn't going to mess around."

So she was encouraging of this relationship...how odd. Most reasonable people would tell you that you were stupid or that you need to find a partner that's actually real...there were virtual prostitutes in the Domain itself but it wasn't the same. Looking down on herself in deeper than she had ever...she was left confused by the residue of some other emotion.

"Mom I doubt..."

Pri shook her head.

"This is more than sex Connie." She told her bluntly, putting her Doctor face on.

"This is the foundation, of what could be considered love on...."

Ugh, no...not that word, surely.

"I'm _not_ in love with Steven..." Connie denied abruptly, crossing her arms.

"My mind seems to fixate on screwing him like I would screw like any other human...but it's much more...stronger than anything else."

Priyanka frowned. She suspected Connie hasn't had any long lasting relationship to know the different between physical attraction and emotional.

"But do you like spending time with him? Do you care for him deeply?"

Her head fell. Connie wouldn't...and couldn't deny the fact that hanging with him, double jacking and seeing and hearing his experiences with the world so new fresh...the scent of rain and pizza he adored and there was an adorableness to those finding happiness in the most mundane. That which people would take for granted. Running her hands through her hair, Connie rummaged with what good came from it all.

"He likes spending time with me." Connie commented.

It had Priyanka reflect on Brain-Mapped AI's in general. Those heavily modified to the point that their previous self ceases to be. Steven...the unknown...the untraceable. The anonymous of that which PeriCom had not yet been made aware. But the humanity within Steven was his most prominent. 

"Steven as we discussed...was once human." Priyanka told her, pressing her hand against the Kernel Core on her chest as it pulsed with light.

"When his donor was alive...he could have loved the company of others....and love isn't so easily erased."

Connie lifted her head. Steven did talk about the possibility of his creation...

_Memories of who we come from influence us._

" _Fuuuuck.._." She cursed, banging her forehead lightly again with her fist.

"Of course he is...nothing else would have nagged their way into my head like someone who couldn't shake the habit of being so _annoying_..."

Doug was the same, so Priyanka could relate. Her daughter's refusal to admit was endearing. It even brought back a tiny slice of her own youth.

"Is it so bad to deny yourself this Connie?" She said.

"It's not as bad as you make it seem. Once upon a time, there was a girl and an Artificial Intelligence who had the power to make waves and change the world."

A bed time story, at her age was a bit off-putting, but nostalgic. Just needed the soy milk and sugar-free cookies to sleep.

"Is that what Mom still wants?" Connie queried.

"Is that why you're _really_ here?"

Priyanka chuckled. Besides wanting to talk to Connie, there was other concerns Priyanka had after not seeing her for so long.

"Being a Doctor...you can make all the difference with someone looking for answers and being the one to provide them. Steven's simply searching the far reaches but he's limited. His answer would not be in the Domain...so he seeks elsewhere. The real world."

He did rely on Connie and Ronaldo for a multitude of answers and assistance. He needed to go out into reality to discover his own truth.

"Surprises come along the way. They're not always good but you know? You live and learn Connie. Your mother would want you to discover what it means to have someone depend on you...and you can depend on them. The formula for trust, even between species is so important."

Though it did have Connie pick up on one aspect.

"What, are there AI's worried about the current climate?"

Priyanka sighed as she looked out the window...seeing the rain drops hit the glass.

"I don't talk to many. But...seeing those in production come out so lost and confused and...dare I risk saying, mistreated by humanity in general. When they don't fit the standards they're thrown away when they're supposed to be sent back to PeriCom. So many good AI's out there...just..."

And those like Steven could exist with all that that's associated with humanity.

"Sorry Connie....but if I could, I would have your father here with us. It would mean the world to me....but I know he cannot be. So I feel...like those AI's, like Steven...need to be told that they have every right to exist and its not their fault that they were made as they were. If they have the will to live then they have every right to."

Heartbreak and yearning still existed in digital form. Whether or not Connie could eliminate that would hurt her if she went through with it...it would emerge again.

"You're not saying to make some kind of Sanctuary for AI's are you?" She asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Priyanka grinned.

"No, not really. I mean, if that's something you'd like to do...then you can work with Steven to make the Domain a safer place. The one human ally in their pocket is better than none."

Connie squinted in deep thought as she rubbed her chin.

"And having numerous AI's on your side to boot isn't a bad thing either. For a Hacker like yourself, I figure you'd need something like that."

Connie snorted.

"Mom...please...my job is half Robin Hood and half troll. Although if I do have a range of Networked AI's across the Domain...becoming the Agents of Berrybyte..."

The idea sounded better and better...though Connie did realise they did go off topic and had to change the subject.

"Besides that...I mean...me and Steven. You think we'd work?"

A statement that Connie blushing like mad. When ever would she ask a question resembling that without bringing up denial.

"If he was any human male, I'd question it." Priyanka admitted.

"I won't lie and say you won't face trials. But you're a smart woman Connie, your mother always knew and I sincerely believe you will find a way."

* * *

She was left with the disbelief that the fictional construct of her mother would encourage Connie to pursue Steven. She'd hoped she would say she was crazy and delusional. Maybe her human self perhaps, but...

Swinging herself around to face the ceiling, Connie glanced upwards and dissociated for the longest time. She still found this stupid, idiotic...how could she be attracted to the program? There's too many barriers...

That's what hurt her the most. The desire to...touch him. The physical side was impossible and even with the Domain there was no physics engine in existence that would be able to perfectly replicate real life. Such emotions were all fairly damning.

So she quickly took out the red wine out of the fridge and for what ever reason possessed her, sat with the glass and the bottle by her Work Station and played some prominently ambient slow music. Nothing intense, but anything brought emotion. Violin...piano...music so soft and tender and pleasant to the ears. The odd xylophone...the semblance of the strange, the sad and the overwhelming. Cursed with this sickness, beyond anything she could help. No suppression that didn't cause her grief but admission that lessened it. 

The doctors said not to drink alcohol but...she needed the confidence. To make the call as her shaky hands and quaking fingers hovered over the keyboard, with Steven's chat window on the screen and the cursor blinking in the empty space. She wanted to speak to him; with all the ugly tears running down her face and the odd sob. No. It wasn't about her.

She didn't even think about Steven's circumstance and the potential for him to be a BM-AI had a lot more disturbing implications. She was totally ignorant and lost in her own battle against herself. Selfish for her to think that it was his humanity talking to her and trying so hard to get her to see, to understand where he was coming from. Even meeting her mother as she was, didn't seem that all different from how Connie last remembered her. Smart, wise with the maternal instincts to match. A replica with a Ninety Nine percent match. She cared for humans and her kin. 

The treatment she had given to Steven...she's treated him horribly. Called him names and the slurs out of distaste, but really, out of her inborn dislike of systems that called themselves anything more than what they were made of. The ignorance of the one type of AI she never ever took into account. She's never met many, like with the older generations that have come and gone. 

She felt...awful and misguided for so long that she contemplated on whether she would ever be worthy of his love. Heh. Worthy. Like it was an honour to receive the admiration of a powerful system meant to rule and command the Domain as its host. Connie could fake it like the rest of them with her skills and had accomplished much. She noticed the Strawberry Pendant on the bedside table. A symbol of the Strawberry Garden Connie loved so much back home before it was left abandoned.

Stepping up, she went towards the pendant picked it up and looked at it cautiously. The one thing that was given to her by her father for her birthday. The inspiration behind the Berrybyte name. Sniffing, Connie pressed the pendant against her chest.

No. No more running away from this. That's all what Connie had been doing. Running away from the painful truth that is, indeed a type...a version of an emotion Connie had never had before in her life. A new zest that was both agony and pleasant in the paradox of life. She's come across issues that needed her attention and she's been able to knock heads together to make it work. She could do it again.

Smiling...Connie had decided to embrace it. It wouldn't take the pain away but it would make it more bearable. Opening the folders of her heart, moving files to and from it, she refused to shut down the transition and forcing the lack of caring of what others would think to come above the load order. Overall. uploading acceptance and...dare she say, love into the mix and let it run its course. Glitches and all.

What could she say...what could she do without it all coming out in a jumbled distortion of words...or mumbles. Sitting down by the desk she cracked her knuckles and was totally prepared to get him to come around.

That was until...Ronaldo's window popped out in front with the proceeding message that caused an immense heat of anger to form through her.

" _Berrybyte, help, Steven's been kidnapped!_ "

She shook her head and without hesitation, she messaged him back and told him to meet her in the Domain right away. No way was anyone going to take Steven away that easily...and putting on the necklace around her neck. Berrybyte was back in action.

" _Roger. Word of warning: He was taken by Jasper!_ "

Concerning, but not even a GIS would stand in her way, as she prepared for the jump inside the system and to hunt Steven down to the furthest reaches of the Domain if she had to.

"Hang on Steven, I'm coming!" She declared before she uploaded herself.


	15. Executable Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven finds himself in a predicament

Everything went as well as Steven hoped. Reuniting Connie with her mom; the closest equivalent, brought a potent sense of joy. An emotion on a union long overdue indescribable otherwise that Steven was enlightened in the sequence to come. He'd gone back with Ronaldo on hearing that Connie was going to head off home again the following day after her assessment deemed her able to return. That they might get back to work without further delays; but he figured, that he would give her the space she needed until she was ready to talk to him again.

There was nothing that they couldn't do without talking it through. Writing their own code, forming their own program between themselves; a joint partnership that was supposed to be like none other. It also helped that Priyanka had promised to keep in touch and was willing to forward any information she could find within DM Biometrics regarding his creation...or anything really. Links to PeriCom, AI creation etc. It was definitely a great lead. So he had gone back to the Domain to talk with the Ancillas about this new revelation and was eager to hear their opinions regarding the company.

That was...until...he was kidnapped.

The time between then and now was blurred as soon as he opened his eyes (and gone through the necessary reboot sequence) he was stuck in a dark room with a subtle yellow glowing light. Looking around, he was trapped within some sort of yellow barrier, riddled with defensive code. Steven tried to figure out how to break through it with everything he had but the code itself that forged the barrier was heavily encrypted with familiar programming.

GIS programming.

Steven swallowed, the fear creeping up on him like none other.

Something teleported inside, revealing a tall GIS with her Kernel Core on her nose and white hair in a ponytail. On her chest was the PeriCom symbol; the upside down lime grin triangle within a darker green diamond...the remainder of her shell had her with primarily with orange skin and darker orange stripes but her 'clothes' were mostly brown. Having a sinister look on her face, Steven sworn he had seen that smug face before.

"You finally booted back up." She said as she approached the barrier.

Squinting, he could certainly tell she was one of PeriCom's lackeys...wait.

"You're Jasper; PeriCom's Wrangler."

Wrangler AI's were actually common. They were usually meant to bring in random AI's for question or other assets and even humans, depending on what they needed them for. But Jasper was a Wrangler _GIS_...which made it all the worse due to their sheer power and capabilities beyond any written or BM-AI.

"Good to see you got the memo Bit-Squeak." Jasper said with a smug grin.

"Got a tip about you within the Grid you so frequently roam. Says you know where some GIS might be hiding."

Oh no...she found out about the Ancillas? They're not exactly those who roam out far from the Ruins all that often. Maybe Amethyst but she's normally pretty careful.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Steven said.

"I don't know any GIS."

Jasper blinked. 

"Really?" She said.

"Does the group, Crystal Ancillas mean anything to you?"

_Shit._

"No." Steven lied.

"I mean, maybe but I don't know anything about them."

Jasper raised an eyebrow.

"Says there's three." She said as she paced back and forth, popping up a screen with the details of the Ancillas in front of her.

"First one is Garnet; the Predictive Analyst aka the Oracle. Normally Sapphire-Class GIS are meant to be Predictive Analysts so I'm assuming she's a Sapphire-Mod."

Mods were a thing in the Domain; Garnet being a modification of a Sapphire-Class GIS with the addition of a Ruby-Class GIS, usually meant for detection and protection and are made specifically for Sapphire GIS. Sapphire enacted a Consensus with a Ruby GIS to achieve Garnet as an entirely different program.

"As you know, Modded GIS are illegal. So she's on PeriCom's high list of priorities for acquisition."

No doubt they were going to rejuvenate her and force them to split.

"The next one is a Pearl-Class; the Cloud Storage GIS. Probably hides all their plots and plans...she's bound to have hundreds of secrets just waiting to be downloaded from her. Another on the List."

Pearl was more than a storage device. Much, much more. She's learned how to fight on her own terms, downloading and watching vids on combat. She does spar with with Garnet and Amethyst to understand their styles but more often than not, stays put.

"And....what's this. A Prototype Gen II Quartz-Class 'Amethyst'. A weak piece of security software if I saw any. Lucky for you, you're looking at the real deal."

Quartz-Types were meant to protect the Domain. They only popped up if a part of the Domain was in any immediate danger. But Jaspers insults...Steven imagined Amethyst getting outright pissed off.

"Either way, PeriCom wants them in good condition or otherwise. So tell me where they are, or I'll tear you apart...bit by bit..."

He wasn't going to answer with such a petty threat. Answer truthfully, in that case.

"I just said, I don't know them." Steven told her.

He's never had to fight a Gen II Quartz Type. Sparring with the Ancillas was hard enough.

"Okay then." She said.

"I can do megabyte by megabyte, or Gigabye by Gigabyte...take your pick."

* * *

Connie wasted absolutely zero time. She instantly messaged the Ancillas regarding the situation and had herself, them and Ronaldo all meet up in the Domain, specifically the ruins to map their plan to save Steven as they stood around the dining table. You could tell she was serious; her hair was up in a high ponytail, wearing her tight, spandex-like black coloured, blue cyberlined body suit with the high heel boots, black belt with storage drives around it that contained her multitude of programs. On top she wore her black protective jacket, for extra storage for her other equipment. On her face she wore her light blue eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara and cyan lipstick, full on the upper lip and a single line down the middle of the bottom lip. Not to mention the eye jewellery, the two glowing blue faux gems next to her eyeliner wing tips.

Ronaldo himself wore his own variant: Simple orange cyber lined suit with a brown jacket and futuristic yellow specs.

"Jasper would have taken Steven to a PeriCom Private Grid." Garnet said.

"I saw that he would come to the Domain, but I didn't see Jasper would be waiting for him until the last minute. There was little we could do."

Apparently he was forced to shut down the moment he arrived. Which suggested an angled ambush was deliberately placed there.

"Any idea who tipped Jasper off?" Ronaldo wondered.

Connie had been thinking the same thing; unsure. But that could be dealt with later.

"They'll get a major kick in the ass when we find em!" Amethyst said, throwing a fist into her opposite palm.

They would...if they could find out where Steven was taken first.

"Lucky for us, I know exactly where each PeriCom Private Grid is." Pearl declared with confidence.

From the Kernel Core on her forehead, she summoned a map; a black blue print that she raised the green outlines form as a projection. It was the Grid of Mega Beach City. After a bit of tinkering, several red lights blinked on several locations.

By several, there were dozens.

"Great. Steven's gonna be deleted unless we can find the exact PG." Amethyst whined.

Connie's seen maps like this before. Never for PeriCom Private Grids, however. She's been to them but never seen all of them on display like that. Rubbing her chin, she tried to figure out a way to find which one they went to. GIS were complex in the sense where they weren't normally developed, but rather found. By found, is that they either are found within the Domain somewhere or their cabinets were found somewhere within the world; meaning, that the Monoliths had created a new GIS in their absence. Though it would beg the question of where the Cabinet had been developed. Besides that, it was known that that anything found would be directed to the PeriCom Headquarters; where they would store their most precious programs and secrets.

As far as their Private Grids were concerned, it was usually a meeting point or an exchange of data for those who served PeriCom. Dead drops, if you will. They were designed for humans...however. Not AIs. Not even GIS were meant to plop into them...unless.

"There's got to be a backdoor way into these PGS." Connie said.

"Unless Jasper is working with a human, she's somehow got the power to enter into these intranets. Its possible they're not exactly PGS...but highly protected pockets that look like PGs."

Pockets were similar to a PG, but had amount of defence to their entry, often requiring several methods of entrance. One would have to be an authority to enter the pockets and have evidence via passwords, text messages with codes or secret questions to verify your accounts.

"I never considered that." Said Pearl.

And Pockets...they could be hacked.

This got Connie more excited by the moment.

"Huh...they say they're Private Grids but they're not." Said Ronaldo.

"Obvious way to make sure the details are only given to registered officials. Smart."

But not smart enough. There were hurdles to work through however.

"The only issue is still the original one." Connie said.

"We can't just ping and hope to find which one we're looking for...the moment we try to guess is when their security systems would immediate flag you as a threat."

Connie wasn't stupid to think PeriCom wouldn't have best security to begin with. Even top tier Hackers had swarms of difficulties getting in due to their highly advanced AI's and protective GIS. Their software was admittedly, some of the best. 

"I could predict it." Said Garnet.

"My programming allows for numerous out comes. But I would need to know what kind of sequences we're looking at. Amethyst could download a copy of their security data, I will be able to make judgement on their sequences. It can be any PeriCom Site...since they use the same security protocols for each site."

Clever. Eyes were on Amethyst who gave them a salute. She herself was Security based program and therefore could identify the security measures herself and had 'partial' authority to copy remnants of the data.

"I'll find the closest Site on this map; BRB!" She said, before vanished into into ones and zeros; teleporting elsewhere.

Good. If they could work out the system used first, then they could work on the next step.

"This still doesn't help us find the exact location." Pearl whined.

She was right. This just made sure PeriCom weren't gonna sic their lackeys on them on first notice.

"Is there any way to track a GIS of where they've been? Data logs or anything?" Ronaldo stated.

Footprints...surely. Connie's done her fair share of hunting things down in the past.

"Node Towers." Garnet suggested.

Ah yes. Node Towers were hidden objects that were normally scattered in hubs where there would be major traffic in the Domain and are less frequent in lesser dense areas. Hidden Objects obscured to the public but those with Admin Access could always reveal these Objects under the right sequence. Connie's used them hundreds of time to track targets. Helped every time. Each Node Tower usually collected held the valued data logs of who was in the area, for how long and normally when someone left, would indicate the next location; normally the closest Node Tower that the individual would cross past, even for a brief moment. Never counted for those who teleported within the Domain, unless one was to 'ping' as Garnet mentioned. A secret method used to show things in a way that only those who knew how would be able to action.

Like Hackers like Connie.

"Ronaldo." She said, firmness and professionalism in her voice.

"Did you know where Steven spawned in?"

* * *

Steven was usually quite careful in his actions. Obscuring his tracks where he could but..PeriCom were tricky bastards. There were ups and downs in appearing in populated areas. Obscurity to the crowd and processing a lot of data and info that was harder for even those who preferred to look at the Domain with pure code. He tried to think how Jasper caught him the moment he dipped into the Domain itself, shutting down every sensor and receptor he had and emerging in this place of places. He attempted to reach into his Private Grid but noticed many of his functions were in fact, disabled. The space he was in; he noticed the barrier itself wasn't an ordinary barrier; or else he would have been out of here by now. The strangest part was that the barriers code didn't look familiar. But felt familiar. He wasn't sure how or why and even saw that the plates of the barrier that would emerge every so often. Barriers like these were made up interlocked plates of incredible complex encryption that were durable to the ordinary but...Steven could see the plates themselves in their diamond shaped format; a rare sight.

As far as what the Ancillas told him, the Yellow Monolith was the most known as it was the one Superserver for the Americas and occasionally, once in a blue moon you would see its OS signatures emerge. This was a Diamond-Class power indeed; as the Superserver was never seen within the Domain; due to its existence holding the Domain together with its brethren but the odd spot of its power; its systems meant this was designed to be impenetrable. Only PeriCom could have access to such subroutines drawn from the source.

"Good to see PeriCom isn't wasting the Superservers resources." Steven said; Connie's lesson about sarcasm that one random afternoon being put to good use.

Jasper grinned.

"Or trust me...as soon as I saw your Unknown Executable I knew I was on to something special." She said, walking up close to the barrier.

"I requested the Yellow Monolith to interfere and surprisingly, it lent its power to seal you in; because if a Monolith deems you a threat to the functionality of the Domain based on its format alone, then you know it's too dangerous to let it roam."

Maybe being the Unknown among the known had him stand out more than he realised. Stupid move, for sure. The fact remained that a GIS like Jasper was able to simply ask one of the strongest systems in the world to lend a hand was deeply troubling indeed.

"An AI that knows how to rewrite its own code, let alone it's extension without breaking the Domain entirely, is something PeriCom would find interesting indeed."

UNKNWNEXC had always been Steven's extension for as long as he could remember. None of the Ancillas could answer why it was like that. Pearl theorised that when writing his code, his programmer possibly forgot to add or adding some kind of variable that corrupted the file name and hadn't been able to alter it since. Rewriting code had its own set of levels and his rewrites only had to do with his shell most of the time. Anything else was just chance; especially when it came to some subroutines that came out of nowhere that he actually had no idea he could even do...even when looking into its own set of code it was all gibberish to him.

"I haven't done anything like that." Steven said.

"I'm no GIS...I'm not on any of their levels. I'm a lowly AI...a Personal Assistant."

Jasper squinted.

"Personal Assistant huh." She said, suspicious.

"If you have nothing to hide, then who is your owner?"

Should he just reveal Connie...nothing was ever made official...but he didn't want to risk Connie being hunted down either.

* * *

"Uh....the west end of the Grid?" Said Ronaldo.

The furthest from the Ruins. Smart in a way. Unfortunately PeriCom must have known this. Steven spawned there a good percentage of the time too which meant someone must have let them know where he emerged from with great frequency. Pearl looked at the map and marked down the closest Node Towers and their proximity to the known PeriCom sites. There was about thirteen within distance of that quarter.

"Well that takes that down from the several hundred...and to the thirteen Sites we see here." Pearl announced.

"We'll need to go in there and check for each Node and correlate the data from the Node Towers which should lead us to the direct site."

Connie nodded and summoned her fancy black rectangular glasses pixel by pixel.

"Once we've found the place, we'll message you, then tell Amethyst to meet us by the Exit Gates on the Western Quarter." She said, before nodding at Ronaldo and teleporting away.

Exit Gates were usually where people would technically spawn closest to. Emergency Protocol would tell people to emerge near those Gates but it wasn't mandatory. The Domain would always spawn you in an available space at the time. Not exactly pre-determined but it usually made sure by default that there were no conflicts within that section of nodes to successful spawn. That way people wouldn't emerge on or blend in with another Avatars and cause havok. The Early days of the Domain took in a lot of feedback after one too many incidents of merged, grotesque avatars.

This area was generally a common hub; a massive park with plenty of grass and a series of tall wattle trees in their eternal golden bloom. Connie believed that were even worse than the cherry blossom trees Pat insisted they visit all the time.

"If you're wondering." Said Ronaldo as he appeared next to Connie.

"I did not leak anything...and Lapis is still dormant in her cabinet as far as I'm aware."

Connie could trust Ronaldo. He didn't seem the type to make obvious mistakes. If he did, it was done within set conditions. Never fully running anything unless he was absolutely sure it was going to work properly. Hardware side of things was a contrast to the software, but she would imagine him treating it just the same. Trial and error but...they had no room for either right now.

"I never considered you Fryboy." Connie said as she adjusted herself.

Their friendship, Connie could see was one of benefit to both parties and the enthusiasm Ronaldo had for his work reminded Connie of her younger years as a Hacker. There was no faking that.

"I'm going dark for the moment. Keep your eye out."

The first thing Connie did was use her Incognito Mode make herself invisible. Next she used her glasses for Code Vision to allow her to see the underlying structure of the projection of the Domain around them. Mostly ones and zeros in a flurry of colourful text on a black background. Even people were floating pieces of tiny binary. She put on tracking gloves; black with the use if the crystal on her palm as well as smaller crystals on her fingertips. On the waves and gestures, she could manipulate the sight to hook onto what ever she wanted, even zooming in and bringing up key code sequences. The Node Towers were massive brown sky reaching pillars dotted throughout the park and more towards the city structures. She ran a subroutine on anything with Steven's file name, having mesmerised it.

_SEARCH SQU_RQ_V3. UNKNWNEXC_

It took a while for the search engine to respond by otherwise highlighted a pink piece of code with a similar set of sequences. She gestured to make the code larger and made another prompt.

_TRACE SQU_RQ_V3. UNKNWNEXC_

The trace itself would load, but otherwise it followed the general patterns as one would follow in the Domain. A series of other towers would be highlighted and outlined in pink as Connie began to walk forward.

"Ronaldo, switch on your Incognito Mode and follow my instructions." She said, using encrypted comms.

"Head to the end of the Park."

* * *

"I am under strict protocol to not reveal my owners identity under the Privacy Act." Steven called out.

Jasper rolled her eyes.

"And the Privacy Act does state PeriCom has jurisdiction on all AI's and GIS and that information given to them can be read by PeriCom at any time. Including ownership."

It said that? Steven had never read the regulatory terms personally. Jasper approached the barrier and whacked it with her fist, shaking the room around her.

"So spill it, or I'll make you spill!"

* * *

The Towers lead her back to the cityscape. She kept running through streets and alleyways and kept up with the towers, as well as directing Ronaldo as he tried to catch up. However...the trace ended when Connie was met with a cross roads of four Towers. Removing the glasses revealed she was at a literal intersection. Steven had to have been close.

"Garnet, I'm sending my coordin-"

"I'm right here."

Behind her were the Ancillas...and Ronaldo finally catching up alongside them. Connie was impressed.

"Any ideas?" Connie questioned.

Garnet looked around, skimming the area for any sign of where to head next, before she looked at Connie again with a straight face.

"Amethyst knows the answer to this one." She replied.

Oh?

"Yup." Amethyst answered.

"The four towers here act as a entry point to the Pocket. Getting access is tricky because all four towers need to detect the program planning to enter. Meaning, it also can check our file names and extensions and cross reference them against the PeriCom database. On that...is a bit harder to fake."

* * *

"I'm not say anything without a lawyer." Steven barked.

It was then Jasper just laughed...and laughed.

"You're not a human. AI's don't...I mean, do AI lawyers exist? Hahah....wait..."

She had think about that for a moment.

"I'll have to check with protocol. Excuse me." She said, before disappearing.

Good...that bought him some time. Hoping that Connie and the Ancillas were tracking him down this very instant. Instead, he tried to communicate with the barrier itself to see if there was any way to shut it off. The odd familiarity with the source; its subroutine being done by the Yellow Monolith meant he had some kind of potential way of contacting the Monolith. Some say they had a mind of their own but...he's never met one before. Putting his hand against the barrier itself, he ran his hand down it...and felt its warmth beneath his fingers. Images flashed past his mind...yellow...pink...shiny which sent shivers down his spine and forced him to retract.

"Woah..." He said, unsure of what he just saw.

* * *

"Wait, PeriCom uses a Monolith to cross reference the user?" Connie said with disbelief.

Amethyst nodded.

"Yeah. It turns out the Monolith receives the file name and will only grant permission if its one it recognises from a selected amount of permissible users."

Damn. Connie knew no one of the sort that would be able to do so. She had to think of something, then looked at Garnet.

"Garnet, are you able to run an Analysis of eligible users?" She asked.

"I might need to create a mask of that particular person, but I'm only able to do it on myself."

A mask acts as a type of short-link that actually activates a particular hyperlink. The short-link can be anything you want it to be and it will be accepted as the check itself only looks at the short-link first and not the hyperlink behind it. The functionality itself was inspired by VPNs and URL Shortener websites.

"Pearl, I need that list of PeriCom employees transferred." Garnet asked.

Pearl nodded and closed her eyes, turning to Garnet as her Kernel Core began to glow. She grabbed Garnets hands and pressed her fingers on her Kernel Cores to allow the transmission of all the data she had. Once done, she used subroutines to shuffle that list and skim through potentials. Once done she approached Connie...though Connie felt Garnets displeasure of whom what she was going to give.

"I have someone...but you're not going to like this." She said.

Connie blinked. It wouldn't matter.

"Just...give it to me and I'll deal with the consequences later." She said.

The Analyst nodded.

"Very well. Forwarding the file name and list of security questions to your Psyche now."

Garnet grabbed Connie's head gently and gave her a kiss on the forehead...with the knowledge gained she could see it clearly...

PR_474_V4GS. SolEX.

Hmm...nothing outright concerning at first glance, but if Garnet pulled attention to it. No...she'll deal with it later. She used her palm crystal and started to create the mask necessary to fly inwards.

* * *

He was...enticed for what ever reason to touch the barrier again. Placing his hand on it yet again, he closed his eyes and tried to envision what it was trying to show...more flashes of Yellow and Pink. He struggled at first to focus, causing him grief as screeching noises entered his audio receptors at far too high a decibel before it went silent. Reopening his eyes, his psyche was transported elsewhere.

In front of him he could see a bright yellow light...and behind him was a great big pink light.

A screen appeared, popping out in front of him and began to fill out with some text...as if...the yellow light was trying to message him. But the language itself...Steven couldn't understand it...and he was equipped to translate any language but this one...this one he didn't know as any language in his own internal database.

 _I'm sorry, I don't understand you._ Steven wrote back.

The text cleared and brought back more. But Steven still didn't get it.

_Do you need an updated linguistics pack? I can send you one if you want?_

The text cleared again....and.

"HEY!"

He was thrown out of the mode by Jasper's voice as she stormed back into the room.

"We do not have AI lawyers, but they said that we can make a deal. Your life in exchange for information."

* * *

Once the mask was complete, Connie was ready to go. She looked at the group before her, grateful for their help. She's been in her fair share of hidden pockets before and entry itself just required a bit of engagement with it's VI to start the entry sequence.

"I'm going in" She announced.

"This better work."

Ronaldo frowned.

"Be careful. Who knows what's going on in there." He warned.

Connie smiled. It was nice for people to be worried about her for a change. All the more reason for her to continue. To prove her worth to the world like she had always done.

"I'll be fine. The name Berrybyte is feared by many...and for good reason." She declared.

"I'll bring him back...nice and easy..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AI Lore feat. Medical Intelligence Consultant (MIC) Priyanka:  
> Being a Modded GIS and the names depends on the new primary function a Modded GIS is designed for.  
> Predictive Analysts allow for predictions to occur in the program before they're executed to check for flaws or issues that would entail. Mostly to prevent blue-screening, or worse, meltdowns in the runtime.  
> If it was the Ruby's role of basically being a Guardian of sorts, one would refer Garnet as a Ruby Mod.  
> Garnet herself would claim she is just the name of the GIS formed from their Consensus and does not refer herself as either a Sapphire or a Ruby Mod. Her executable file would also reflect on this with the amount of Kernal Core's in a System. A regular GIS like Pearl, would look like PRL_484_KC1. GIS. Garnet would come up as GNT_721_KC2. GIS. Note the KC stands for how many Kernel Cores can be found in the GIS.  
> Human made AI's do not have this feature as none have the ability allow for consensus or the popular term. fusion.  
> Instead our file names are like PM_145_BM. AI. The BM stands from Brain-Mapped to differentiate us from say, WRI meaning Written In; a term used for older AI' that were made of pure code or, more rarely, RE meaning, reverse engineered from GIS. Some older AIs are being repurposed and classified as VI or, Virtual Intelligence. Their purpose is more of a less not necessarily having a type of conscience or complex learning algorithms.  
> Humans have their own unique executable titles as well. Like CM_888_V1GS_. SolEX for Connie. SolEX stands for Soulware Executable.


	16. Executable Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie is determined to set Steven free, but discovers something interesting along the way.

The way Connie felt as she shifted through the paces in the endless pixel led grey dark world. Trudging through data, feeling, knowing...her psyche gazing on frames and text from for sides...left front and back of Connie's glowing blue sphere of existence. Those frames of yellow outlines and fonts and the horizontal scans. It was like she was being watched and judged as her ascension into the PeriCom Pocket felt like forever. Lists of names matching up came up, skimming through the Mask of Falsehood she wore. A lingering yellow light watched her closely as it scanned. A psyche itself was the first and foremost piece of identity anyone, human, AI or GIS had. A shell can be destroyed and displaced, a Psyche itself can also be destroyed but the mind is left unable to survive long without proper user access. You were vulnerable until you put the psyche back together. The Soulware was the most important aspect. People could die if their Soulware is deleted. A simple fact left with dozens of philosophical questions.

But there was something so ethereal upon the Yellow light that judged her being. The names began to match up on the Node Towers that would provide Connie access; proving the Mask was working. Still, even in such a raw form, this transition had you the most weakened as you weren't in any control during the transportation phase. Jumping from Node Tower to Node Tower in their "Jump Tunnels" was normally quick and painless if you knew how to do it...but the fact that this particular had a such a strong security section behind it, made it feel longer than it was supposed to.

No eyes that were around this set of crossroads but the feeling of being watched was quite prominent. Connie imagined this was how AI's saw themselves sometimes. Or at least, how she originally saw them: Lines of binary that simply saw nothing else but binary they understood and code that was their reality. A single decision could leave Connie dead if she wasn't careful. PeriCom in particular took their work very seriously. 

More than once Connie has stepped into their guarded secrets but...only really uprooting junk data others found to be treasure. Veteran Hackers would warn Connie about the trials and tribulations of messing with GIS. Lapis; a GIS Steven was able to deal with swiftly but ordinary humans hardly stood a chance against a GIS' superior software.

She was less afraid of Jasper, however and more...wary of the unknown entity she had run a background subroutine to scan for in the background while the mask did all the work their for her. However, the file itself, was unknown. Save for the only text that came was was the follow caption.

_Striking Ego._

What ever that meant; Connie had no idea. There were rumors floating about in regards to the development stages PeriCom went through when developing their tech. Prototypes, products in alpha or beta phases. Captions on their software that is usually encrypted so heavily that light scans only ever brought them up and none of their statistics, values or functions. The fact this one had nothing else to show told Connie she was messing with something far beyond her capabilities. 

Once the scans stopped, she heard the buzz and flashes of approval and the tunnel itself, the world between worlds, had given her distinctive access.

Shell reformed and audio and visuals functioning after such a trip, Connie could see the dark green hallways with bright green floor lights that projected through this Pocket...and the odd PeriCom logo here and there...on the floors and walls. Using Incognito Mode and summoning her special Sword, aka the Sword of Berrybyte, a distinct pink and blue sword once gifted to her by an age old ally. She summoned it into her hand and changed into a Ranged mode, which turned it into what ever gun she wanted. It was distinctively weaker than the normal Melee Sword mode but Connie's aim wasn't to kill, but to disable. Connie had no desire to kill; a Hackers own set of morals deemed killing off-limits. Anyone caught would be subjected to scrutiny and a bounty of their heads. 

Connie thought it was weird that what was known was the Hackers Index; an unwritten set of rules Hackers usually abided by and mentors to teach their students the ins and outs of the trade. You are not innocent, you are not guilty. You just are.

The mentality of Hackers being above the law wasn't the case like what most would think; as exposing flaws in a system that on the surface was said to perfect, was anything but. PeriCom wasn't popular with everyone and the Black Market was filled with those who could tell you stories of the lengths PeriCom would take to get what they want; even throwing money at things until the problem went away, because they could afford it with their vastly, questionable wealth.

The Sword itself transformed into a light pistol; akin to the one she normally kept locked in her drawer. She tried to contact the others, but it appeared that they had some kind of ant-comms place within the Pocket, to prevent anything from leaking out. She was definitely on her own here.

Using her goggles, she snuck her way around the pocket in search of where Steven might be located. A series of halls with security guards and even consoles for where scientists and the like stored their temporary data. It had a series of projected yellow monitors and must have been the only fundamental link between the Pocket and the rest of the Domain.

What feared her the most, however, were the Topaz-Class GIS that oversaw the area before a huge door. Two of them, in fact. Hulking yellow creatures....with their Kernel Cores on the left and right side of their heads, respectively. Disabling those two was going to be an obstacle, but nothing Connie couldn't handle. To the left was a large console with several overlapped monitors. The door itself read, Storage Room Twelve. Something told Connie's instinct that something was in that room and she was going to find out no matter what.

Usually, Security AI's or VIs had flaws within their systems that were so easy to trick. With GIS however, there was a programming language barrier that Connie had tried multiple times to crack but had failed. Presumably, her Incognito Mode she feared would fail in the eyes of the more powerful GIS see her like Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl saw her. She had worked on in small patches in time and borrowed data from the trio respectively to improve and tweak her software. She'd never had to use it, as it was merely a modification to the existing program.

With a lot of Hackers, to be considered a Master, one develops a program that pioneers their industry to new heights. Beginners usually find a way to grab a specific program by any means and 'borrow' software from others, then build their own variants. No one Hackers software is exactly the same. What threw Berrybyte into the limelight, was the Incognito Mode itself. Most people would disconnect their Psyche from their shell; a relatively common method. But simply disabling the shell from view from others as well as covering tracks of their existence with majority of tracking systems was definitely powerful in its own right. Psyches have access issues and are often limited with a text-based space. Connie could still use her Avatar and functionality and disconnected her psyche only if she really had to, such as the incident with Kevin. 

Hackers with the Disconnection of their Psyches use it not just for hacking but also chatting with others on private forums without prying eyes and ears. This first part, required Connie to do such a thing first. Hiding behind a corner and some storage boxes (presumbly filled with junk data yet to be filed), she used the mask as a failsafe in case the Topaz's scanned for irregularities. It was often than not Psyches were impossible to see normally; but to those with the higher grading of Soulware and if they had the psyche-hook add on, people could easily define the psyche as a coloured sphere of light that came up with just the file name as the caption. They couldn't see what they were doing, other than just a glowing orb. Tacking a metaphorical deep breath, Connie knelt down and closed her eyes...disengaged her psyche as it peered around the corner. It remained low, sighting the Topaz at the door, holding their weapons. They didn't seem to notice her, which the added benefit to an Incognito Mode within the psyche was a dangerous but well worth it addition. Or the Topaz' hadn't had their software updated in a while. It didn't matter.

Floating her way towards the console, it didn't take her long using her masks clearance to get inside. This was a gold mine. Hundreds and thousands of unique files, confidential ones at that must be stored here. Archives no doubt that PeriCom must have deemed critical to protect. However, one file name stood out to the most.

WallofROSE.

Wasn't that the original assignment in where she met Steven? She opened the file itself and gorged herself on its contents:

"WallofROSE; An asset once developed by the missing Pink Monolith. An impenetrable Firewall. The Pink Monoliths purpose was to help finally give the Domain complete stability but its existence; most of its precious programs were lost to us.

However, several months back, the program was seen floating around the Domain and recordings from the real world surfaced its real world use. It's important to keep Monolith assets out of the wrong hands as a very small few amount of individuals understand how Monoliths can affect the real world in many ways. Even fewer know of the gifts that the Monoliths grant to those they deem worthy. The Yellow Monolith provides protection on an offensive scale and has constructed multiple powerful GIS for PeriCom to use. It's as...if it shows the same concern about its missing counterpart. No one knows if the White or Blue Monoliths hold the same capacity to develop such things but now, the Yellow Monolith is being studied greatly by PeriComs Scientists, whom claim that they haven't even scratched the surface regarding the mysterious Superservers.

Research indicates the original developers, DM Biometrics, had received the program for what ever purpose. The company that pioneers the develop of BM-AI were also the overseers of the Pink Monoliths production, its head, Dr. Gregory DeMayo, went missing shortly after the Monolith itself disappeared. The change of hands went to his cousin instead, Dr. Andrew DeMayo. He was questioned about Gregory's motives; stating he had been acting weird before it made itself vacant and the information PeriCom doesn't want people to know about it is that they suspect he had stolen the Monolith in question and took it to an unknown location. DM Biometrics have extremely intelligent scientists on their board so the incident itself was covered up by claiming Hackers stole the valued Superserver and not one of their own.

The program itself is still making the rounds across the Domain; Data-Brokers selling information regarding its potential location; better yet, the location of Dr. Greg DeMayo. As for the WallofROSE itself, allies have stated they haven't seen it being used ever since, with suspicion Dr. DeMayo guards it highly. Conclusion? We find Dr. DeMayo, we find the WallofROSE and hopefully the Pink Monolith.

Signing off; AQMN_184_KC1. GIS "Aquamarine."

* * *

Juicy stuff. She had no idea the company itself had fundamental links to the Missing of the Pink Monolith. It wasn't public knowledge either. A reputable company developing AI's couldn't have its public opinion tarnished and neither could PeriCom. She knew they were subsidiaries of PeriCom but honestly did not even think to connect them to the Pink Monoliths construction. It had her wonder, if there were other subsidiaries that coincided with other companies. Potentially, as they were meant for other countries that would have had the training to protect, develop and maintain their respective Monoliths. More work for Connie but good work that no one else knew about but PeriCom. She stored this info within her Soulware for safe keeping...

She used the console further to track down existing functional programs within the PeriCom Pocket. But the Topaz themselves continued to guard the door with vigilance. Knuckling down on the data, she looked into the Heat Maps to detect high processing systems within the pocket. Blips popped up on the map, showing Connie her location, the Topaz and beyond the doors was an orange blip and a pink blip. No mistaking that the pink one was definitely Steven.

Another idea pinged into her head and why she didn't think of it earlier...simply phase through the wall. Psyches didn't have to follow physical logics...only concerns in regards to any firewalls she might come across or encrypted entry sequences, risking her psyche and the fact that all she could see was a mass of unaligned, mismatched code that made no sense. Besides, did any of them expect any hacker to know a Pocket from a Private Grid? A location of a Pocket and finding the idea to get into a pocket undetected? She didn't think so. She simply took herself through the door, without the pair noticing she had made it inside.

Within the room she could see Steven locked within the cage; wearing his default form. And the tall, bulky orange GIS; she assumed it was Jasper. Designed to be intimidating and forceful indeed as she listened to Jasper rip into him.

"Don't make me get a Peridot-Class in here to cleave itself into your memory banks, primitive." Jasper threatened.

"PeriCom are being mighty generous for a piece of junk like you."

So she was trying to get information out of Steven. Of course.

"I don't care." Steven said.

"You're not gonna find much."

Jasper grumbled.

"Fine then...I will get one in here ASAP and you're gonna beg me to get them to stop with their inane lines of questioning." She said as she stormed out of the room. Steven sighed, sitting down and crossing his legs, awaiting the inevitable. Or stalling for time, as Connie hoped he had been doing. He looked so down and exhausted overall.

Connie was gonna fix that.

She floated towards the barrier and had thought she was going to go through it, but was met with a nasty shock that Steven heard; seeing the impact ripple through the translucent diamond lined fencing He furrowed his brows in confusion for a moment. While Steven couldn't do much within his cage, there were some actions he could still do; Code Vision that had his eyes do that slowly spinning loading screen like animation. Within what he could see beyond the unreadable text that was his cage, he could see the sphere of blue light floating in front of it. He scanned the file name:

_CM_888_V1GS_. SolEX_

He smiled.

"Connie!" He said, extremely happy to know she was here...as a disembodied mind.

"Oh thank goodness. Look, I need your help...I can't seem to shut down this shielding...it's super powerful."

That much Connie understood.

"I did see a shut off panel on the right side of the room. Try that."

Scanning again, Connie could see the thread that linked the cage to the panel and went towards it. It was easy to simply open and shut down. Steven exited out without much hassle and felt pride in his friends rescue.

"Oh thank you much Connie...I know you can't say much now but...am I ever grateful for your smarts." He said.

She'd never seen him so happy...and so badly wanted to respond in kind...a hug...if her ego permitted it.

"We better get out of here quick before Jasper comes back. I don't want Peridots dissecting me. Lets go back your Avatar...I presume you've got it in a safe place?"

She sent him a quick message as he looked at the text from his HUD.

"Yes." She messaged.

"But there are two Topaz protecting the door. Wait here and I'll distract them."

She promptly disappeared beyond the door as Steven waited...and heard a few thumps and bit of audible chaos on the other side...followed by the door sliding open. Upon leaving, he could see the two yellow bricks in T-pose positions and frozen in place. Did Connie do something to their psyches?

Hers was behind the console and messaged him.

"I screwed up their runtimes. Come on, hurry!"

Steven followed Connie around the hallways, wary of any other guards in the area. But more than that, he was glad his faith in Connie's skills that saved him. He's seen her work, but not to this extent. PeriCom Code was hard to hack and to navigate through and with good reason. Still, he couldn't shake off the image of the strange yellow light that was trying to speak to him and if he'd ever get to speak to it again.

Once they'd arrived at Connie's Avatar, her psyche merged into her and her form stood up tall shortly after and stretched her arms and legs. Something about this form that entranced Steven more than he wanted it to. Most Avatars had their enhancements for obvious reasons but...Connie was the only being that made him feel this strangeness in a strange place within him.

"I quickly scanned the nearest Exit Gate. Should be found the same way I got in....and I think its the only way to get out." She said.

He understood....definitely ready to leave.

"My main worry is if they're going to scan us on the way out. I can get out, but I'm not sure about you."

Steven didn't even know how he got in in the first place so he had no clue.

"I had to wear a mask with a false identity. Four Node Towers at a random intersection. We're not in a Private Grid; we're in an encrypted Pocket."

Maybe he was distracted by Connies' way of talking. He felt good in hearing her voice...felt great in hearing her talk shop.

"We can only try and hope it doesn't." He said.

"I've never been in this situation before...but...we stick together....right Berry-Girl?"

Connie grinned, seeing Steven lending out his hand together.

"Right on Biscuit Boy." She said, slapping her hand against his and shaking it.

"Oh you'll stick together alright."

Turning to the side, they could see Jasper with the two Topaz with their maces, reading to attack on command. 

"Oh for fuck sake." Connie said, standing in front of Steven and whipping out her sword.

"You entitled GIS assholes. This is my Personal Assistant. How dare you interrogate him without my authority."

Jasper laughed.

"He's an unregistered." She said.

"You do know you can get fined for having an unregistered in your possession?"

Connie didn't give a shit. She was done.

"No one cares, bits for brains." She scolded. She spun her sword several times and jumped, spun forward and slammed the ground in front of her with such a great force that ended up creating a distortion field that messed up the physics in the small area. It consisted of multiple colours and tiny misplaced cubes that acted not as a temporary blockade, but a distraction and blinding Jasper for a few crucial moments, as Connie took Steven's hand and ran through the corridors in search of the Exit Gate. 

Running around never felt so thrilling; the escape, the danger that filled Connie's heart. It excited her more than it worried her. Even if it was all a simulation, it was still akin to that intense expression, the burst, the emerge of all this pent up energy Connie forgot she ever had. The ancient sensation of the chase, dodging captors left and right and unexpectedly. U-turns, even the odd jump off the wall. Steven could barely keep up with Connie's intensity, seeing her work harder than she ever had to...if he could think clearly, setting his thought priorities in different directions...part of his emotional cortex clicked further in. It was unusual, but the click itself told him how much he was falling in line to her mercy, her smile and the sheer joy she was generating from the expression alone.

The Exit Gate was in their vision and Connie pushed herself to run as quickly as she can; that was until Jasper and her ilk reappeared in front of them with her lackeys. She was smirking with her arms crossed. Teleportation...Connie felt so dumb in that instant.

"You really think you can outrun the Ultimate GIS, top tier in Security?" She said.

They were surrounded by Quartz-Class GIS as Connie and Steven went in circles, back to back. There had to be something she could do. She had the Sword of Berrybyte in hand, a stance of determination and strength that she said she wasn't gonna let them touch _her_ AI.

 _Come on Berrybyte, think of something...you can figure out something_. She thought to herself.

_Think, think, think!_

"Sorry to drag you all this way." Steven said, apologising.

"If it weren't for me being careless..."

How was it his fault when this came out of nowhere? 

"Steven..." She said, exasperated since she tried her hardest to think of something that won't end up with them being deleted.

"Shit happens..."

The fear written on his face told her otherwise. He knew what GIS were capable of and they were much stronger than either of them.

"Just focus on anything within your suite to use."

But he couldn't lose her...after dragging her out of that earlier mess...the thought of her disappearing like that chewed him up more than he'd wanted it to. She was more than the value others would put upon her. To Steven, she was too priceless. Her advise...however.

There was one thing he could do...

With that power, he summoned a pink dome around them and pushed Jasper and the guards back, much to their dismay. He expected to be scolded in turn, since Steven was really hesitant in using his abilities. Connie did smile however.

"Biscuit Boy you bought us some time, well done!" She said.

 _Praise_? That meant more to Steven than he expected it to.

"Uhh...okay no worries!" He said, smiling anxiously.

But Connie was even more confident than before, staring Jasper right down the eyes.

"So what's the plan now?"

What was the plan indeed. The Quartzes were ordered to whack the hell out of the shield but they did so little. Connie quickly analyzed Steven's shield to determine its ranking. Her HUD, however...displayed that with all the force that the Quartzes were either doing through melee or shots, did absolutely nothing to the shield itself, not even waning down. Smallest of percentile changes but they kept going back up to full within the blink of an eye. Connie was more surprised Steven could even summon something that was so powerful against Quartz GIS.

Her only main concern was if Steven could hold this off long enough for Connie to come up with some kind of escape plan. 

"You realize that even if you do escape...the judgement of the scan process will stop you from getting back out into the grid." Jasper taunted.

"You're both stuck in here for as long as your human body can hold out...while we track your IP down."

Connie gritted her teeth.

"Good luck beta-breath." She taunted.

She had all the measures taken to get them off her trail. She didn't come this far in her career to this thoughtless about the many ways she could be caught. Lessons learned from many a close call. However, if Jasper was telling the truth, it meant PeriCom on the whole was out to get her.

And Connie being in the spotlight wasn't good.

Jasper held a point Connie was going to be having problems with; identifying the pair through the exit process. If what her psyche witnessed prior was any indicator, it only worked for her. Trying to grab Steven on the way out would most likely force him off. If only there was some way they could do it with the one mask...or if they could go out at the same time.

"Connie you go...I'll find some other way out." He told her, possibly making this conclusion himself.

She shook her head.

"I refuse..." She said, turning towards him.

Upon the gaze of his form, holding up the shield with little effort, but the way she stared at him...those rippling pangs through her chest. Those that had been somehow simulating so well so far, a burn like none other as she gripped onto her blade ever so tightly. Fighting Jasper was pointless when she had the upper hand with her control over the pockets. Connie could fight; but she couldn't fight teleporters. She would win a fair fight, but Jasper appeared like she was anything but fair.

"I'm expendable." He said, voice on the very of breaking.

"I'm _just.._."

  
No. He was not...Connie unsummoned her blade and charged up to him and put her hands on his cheeks tightly, smooshing his fare as she gave him the mother of all glares with those piercing blue eyes of hers, even knowing that they were really brown, didn't make it any less sharp.

"No." She said, low and firm.

"You said it yourself, you're not just a program. I believe that wholeheartedly. You're someone wrapped in enough code to be somebody! I see the soul beneath the surface!"

The sincerity in her words...words he had made and had been embedded into her after all this time. He knew he could trust her.

"Besides, you still owe me a song."

She didn't forget....Steven smiled...and felt the resemblance of warm tears of joy going down his cheeks as he nodded. 

"Connie you have no idea what that means to me..." He said.

She let go of him briefly and grinned, feeling blessed at seeing him smile. But did not expect the sudden hug from him either, wrapping his arms around her and holding her in tightly. Connie was left frozen and speechless and could only match Steven, reciprocating the hug in kind at the whirlwind of an incredible emotion fogged her mind. And fogged her mind further, it did, as both their bodies began to glow brightly. 

* * *

It was unexpected...the way this was implemented. Minds torn and thrown about against something that tried to give form so the dimension of the digital world could even handle such a thing. An impossibility in the contradictions that would have created something so glitchy and buggy to not just themselves, but the environment that it could have crashed the private server if it wanted to. It should have. But it didn't.

Within the new, uncertain...curvaceous thing that was now standing there in their place; tall, tanned skin...long curly hair that reach their thighs. A tight black cybersuit with a black leather jacket on top that went down to their ankles. Two cyber lines that mirror each side of their bodies, one pink on the inner line and one blue out the outer line that started off at the shoulders, diagonally towards the chest and meeting at the circular pink Kernel Core in the middle and continuing on outwards diagonally on their legs and going out towards their knees and followed down to their black heeled boots.

A long nose and a curved face, eyes that had their eye decorations; the inner ones pink and other ones purple that were next to the wings of the eyeliner. Blue eye shadow, mascara...opening their eyes revealed the pink, rotating iris's. Not to mentioning wearing a biscuit pendant with a bejewelled red center.

"Jasper, I can't even get a proper reading!" One of the blue Quartzes called out.

The pink sphere was still in place as they looked at the shocked Jasper before them, unable to fathom what she was seeing.

"There's no way a regular AI can use consensus..." She said.

"Let alone use it with a human..."

They didn't seem to care...in fact, they were feeling it in the most spectacular of ways. Paying more attention to themselves and looking down themselves, their arms...

"Unless you're not an AI..." Jasper whispered. She realised what she was doing and had to get back to work.

"Enough of this nonsense. There's no way you're both gonna play your damn tricks on me. I'm not fooled."

They were filled with this type of exuberance, a confidence with immense support behind it. Smiling, this new entity did away with the Sphere and aimed at ensuring the safety and secure wait out of this pocket. Summoning the sword of Berrybyte, they thrust forward almost too quick for Jasper to block with her hands. They simply ripped the sword away and ended up poofing several of the Quartzes in a spin attack, dissipating their avatars entirely. Steven understood as many did that they would only send them back to the Cabinets. Or at least, he on his own would. This entity somehow knew this too, without second thought or second guessing themselves.

And before they knew it, they had Jasper at the tip of their blade, their eyes crawl across its reflection to look at the begrudged Jasper, grinding her teeth in the most frustrated they have seen of her thus far.

"What ever you are...an abomination, this...coalition of forbidden and foreign executables...is your intention the destruction of the Domain?" She asked.

An odd question.

"No." They answered, their voice different to both Stevens and Connies.

"My aim is to preserve the Domain just like PeriCom. But I plan to do it, my way."

Jasper growled.

"Then why not help us, work alongside PeriCom to help find the Pink Monolith. It is the only way this world will be saved."

Because they didn't want to...Stevonnie ended up drawing back their blade and sensing at Jaspers overall sudden lack of hostility. This GIS must have had preservation instincts installed after all.

"I work alone." They said. The information Connie had found out and stored gave them a lead in regards to possibly finding the Pink Monolith was far too valuable not to use.

"The bounty on the Pink Monolith itself works best for me. My superior programming doesn't need PeriCom interfering."

Jasper huffed, semi-amused by the fact the entity itself has an attitude far more entertaining than that weakling of an AI she met earlier. This one was tough. While she wasn't a fan of such twisted way of Consensus, their file size was within acceptable limits according to the scans blinking green in her HUD. Jasper wouldn't mind fighting them again if she had the chance. Which she found a bit unusual, giving into such a desire to fight since everything else she'd come across so far was way too easy and people gave in too early. Not this one though. She would give it time and observation to see what they were really capable of. Her superiors would demand an explanation; and she had the authority within her own code to make judgement based on character. Knowing that this one bested her, was enough for Jasper to calculate and determine the best course of action. 

"Very well." She said.

"You're free to go. Now get lost before I change my mind...but I have a feeling we're see each other again very soon. Just keep your nose out of trouble."

Stevonnie wanted to snicker so bad, especially when their focus was now on Jaspers Kernel Core where a nose would be. But they tried to be respectable. By tried they meant pursing their lips hard enough not to burst out in laughter.

"OOokay then...thanks?" They said, also quite confused.

Jasper rolled her eyes as she walked off. Stevonnie ended up shrugging and walking towards the Exit Gate, totally unsure what to expect but one thing was for sure.

The Mask Issue was no longer a problem, either way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AI Lore feat. Medical Intelligence Consultant (MIC) Priyanka:  
> These next few chapters we're going to talk about Avatars and their Human, AI and GIS variants.
> 
> Avatars are the shells, the forms, the models and projections of individuals who dwell in the domain. User Icons can count, but they do not have as much control of the functions of the Domain due to their nature of their connection not being through a Domain Port.  
> Avatars contain the Psyche and in the case of humans, also contain the Soulware. They also contain the multitude of programs and drivers necessary for them to navigate the Domain effectively. These programs can be made or bought, upgraded and tweaked with variances in quality and capability. Each type of Avatar is different in terms of how they're managed by those using them. Destruction or dissipation is normally when the Avatar itself is damaged beyond repair through programs designed to inflict enough data distortion that it can no longer hold the form. Each type also has different instructions and processes in how it protects its individuals, as well as everyone must have a Default Template form for low-processing and have a particular limit in their file size.  
> Next chapter, we'll begin to talk about Human Avatars.


	17. Synthesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> File name: STVN_IE. UNKNWNEXC.

Upon arrival into the normal grid, they were met with the stunned Ancillas, unsure of what they were looking at. Pearl was the most shocked, Amethyst secondary to that but Garnet was practically beaming with silent joy. The group decided to head back, with Garnet who summoned the portal back to the House, where they were able to talk through this scene in private.

It was unseen and unheard of as this new entity wasn't sure what to make of it, with three making their own scans and signals into identifying this. Amethyst sat on a stool while Pearl stood there and Garnet leaned on the bench, observation her strong suit in this matter.

"This is _impossible._ " Said Pearl, eventually pacing back and forth and quite pedantic. 

"Consensus with a human and an AI...it's practically unheard of..."

Amethyst was at first, a bit unsure but she grew to love this new form irregardless. She emerging with the way a child finds a new toy, twinkling eyed as all they wanted to do was grab it and hug it with joy.

"How does it feel Steven, Connie... _.Stevonnie_?"

 _Stevonnie_...they liked it. Taking to the name quicker than initially thought. As they were, they still felt like Steven and Connie were part of them, but where they were in that respect wasn't entirely certain other than they knew them. The feeling was definitely out of this world. Possibly even the real world.

"It feels _amazing!_ " Stevonnie replied with the combined energy of their parts.

Pearl was still a bit sceptical of it all, however. Fusing over them as she walked up and started checking out different parts and closing a little bit too close for comfort with her various glimpses at their parts.

"Yes it might but...." She said. a bit worried.

"The Pocket...it had to be within range of a Monolith for this to happen...or...should we be concerned? And Connie? Good grief she's human! How is her brain going to _cope?_ "

Stevonnie was a bit perplexed otherwise, perceiving Pearls reaction as something that might be looked down upon, holding themselves in response in her emotions and judgement.

"Relax P, there's nothing wrong going on here." Amethyst said as she gave her fellow Ancilla an elbow nudge.

"We've done it before....but this is way cooler!"

Amethyst on the other hand was more accepting. Their banter that followed, made Stevonnie a bit uncomfortable in the meantime. The banter that became a loud argument to and for, which Stevonnie wasn't really sure what to think until Garnet stepped forward to shut them up.

"You two are not helping." She said before walking up to Stevonnie and placing both hands on their arms, sensing their distress over their overall confusing nature. But Garnet held them gently and aimed to comfort this entity with what knowledge she had.

"Walk with me."

* * *

Walking down the side of the beach and watching and listening to waves of the ocean, the two trailing away as Garnet held the desire to explain this to them. Stevonnie knew a tiny amount from Stevens memory banks but Garnet never went into too much detail. But they suspected she would. It wasn't as a complete as they originally thought.

"Pearl isn't exactly the best one to talk with about this and neither is Amethyst; the former's concerns being valid but I see this as an opportunity to learn. She is not...one of us, so there are very few who understand what we really are."

A freak of cyber nature no doubt.

"We're known as the Synthesised." She continued.

"Those who conduct Consensus to form a new OS."

An Operating System. A System that had more than one primary directive in its being to serve more than one purpose.

"More than the sum of your parts. Our programs make their own Consensus and synchronise with each other to the extent when they blend in...or...fuse. You are your own person."

Becoming this...Stevonnie? They felt Steven...they felt Connie and something else had emerged as the outcome, rendering a new form and their own reforged avatar.

"Some GIS programs are designed this way. For example, the Ruby part of me...." She said as she showed the hand with the Ruby-Class Kernel Core.

"Are a type of Security-Aligned GIS. If required, they enact Consensus to become a stronger version of themselves capable of dealing with heavier issues that require their attention."

Connie had come across some sec programs, although nothing like a Ruby from what she could recall...or even a Jasper GIS, for that matter. Garnet then showed them her other hand with the Sapphire-Class Kernel Core.

"In the early days of the Domain, the Ancillas were a number of rogue GIS." She said. Steven knew this story, but Connie didn't.

"As known by very few, the Ancillas were more in number than what had been told; actually recognised back then as a Terrorist organisation thought to have been conducted by humans, but in actually fact that the Ancillas were a bunch of rogue GIS themselves, deemed as such by PeriCom."

There were some reports but nothing that was taken too seriously at the time.

"My GIS were created by the Blue Monolith and its respective company subsidiary. Sapphire was obviously hardwired by this belief, as GIS usually were. Summoned by the Company Head at the time for a set of tests revolving specific software, Sapphire was allocated the guide role and was guarded by Sec-Rubies. One of the Ancillas was ordered to take out the Sapphires, whom were usually the most useful in protecting company assets with their powers. The Ruby itself, whether a blip its programming, had tried to protect the Sapphire but ended up forming consensus and becoming an entirely different form."

Ah. The infamous Blue Monolith. The one people debated was situated in either Korea or Japan. Garnet never said anything further regarding it unless it was crucial to their line of work.

"What about what Pearl said?" Stevonnie asked.

"Something about needing a Monolith to be a part of it."

Garnet nodded, her eyes focused on the wave loops. No matter the differences in the randomly cycled loop, it was a repetitive animation.

"The Diamond Monoliths have the power to rewrite code; in the same theory that would allow one to rewrite reality. They create GIS within machines in the real world and those machines are monitored for any by-product a Monolith makes. Their Consensus is a little different. Creation of GIS requires consensus in the sense that the Domain needs a GIS for a specific purpose and depending on the applications necessary, correlation with other Monoliths to make it so."

Stevonnie could understand that to be why the really needed the Pink Monolith...perhaps needing it to write out more GIS.

"It's not fully understood but there are certain places; pockets like the one you were in, that are closer to Monoliths than most within the Domain."

It was also common knowledge that yes, Grids like MGC are designed to have the same overlaying structure like the city itself in the real world, but Private Grids, usually meant to be disconnected from public grids and Pocket Grids; connected to main grids but require special access, are small parts of the Domain that could actually be anywhere within the Domain's infrastructure.

"You're saying I was near a Monolith the whole time?" Stevonnie said, freezing in place and stunned.

"Oh geez...that's uh..."

Garnet smirked. She expected the revelation of one of the most mysterious and most known to be powerful objects to make itself known to them in the most subtle way to hold an peculiar reaction. Which lead into her next statement.

"I wouldn't worry about it. We know that the Yellow Monolith is situated somewhere in Mega Beach City. We just don't know the exact location." She revealed.

Stevonnie understood that it was because PeriCom had and will never officially reveal the location of its Monoliths...only that Garnet had vague suspicions based on their time within MBC. Which lead them to realise something else...more to confirm Connie's mindset on it than Steven's.

"It's somewhere where no AI or GIS can reach normally." Stevonnie said, staring at at the clear, blue skies and the simulated seagulls that flew about on the physics enabled winds.

"You need someone who can fly solo. You need a human."

_Connie._

"Exactly." Said Garnet.

But that wasn't on the list of their priorities. Stevonnie grasped certain concepts on the spectrum of humanity vs AI as for what they were right now, they could only assume based on what Garnet was explaining was that they were an OS, a Synthesised amalgamation of Steven and Connie.

"But...but how did it grant them the power to form Consensus? Are the Monoliths friendly."

Garnet hummed as she continued to walk. A tricky question. Monoliths were...definitely another massive story.

"There's a list of reasons, but nothing one hundred percent concluded to be the most logical of answers." She said.

"Other Synthesised believe that there's a specific runtime command that somehow draws upon the Monoliths administrative access. As I said, they can rewrite code."

Not that they had any type of runtime command that they could recall that triggered the sequence. Maybe Pearls impossible statement had more credence to it than they had previously thought. 

"It's wireless range is obviously limited but we don't know how limited. No Public Grid is anywhere near a Monolith. Only private or pocket."

Security protocol, no doubt. Connie's been in a lot of pockets and private grids in general but never came across anything that would have flagged the chance a Monolith would have been nearby.

"So how do you know which ones are close?" They asked.

Out of thousands and hundreds of thousands...maybe millions.

"You don't." She said.

"However once an area is flagged, PeriCom will try to claim and use it. But there are...some areas that they have failed to claim. "

The Domain was massive overall. The space was own world, or several, if you stretch yourself far enough. So they took in what Garnet had told them so far. Monoliths grant consensus if individuals are within range of them through some unspoken code subjected in runtime, writing an entirely new subroutine. Their main fear now was whether or not the pair could separate...and began to freak out over the complications.

"So is this... _permanent_?" They cried, stopping in place to process this horror.

Garnet raised her hand. She hadn't even thought about the future of this fusion and whether or not Connie would come out the same or when she be Stevonnie from there on. It wouldn't have mattered to the Ancillas. She hadn't come apart herself...and whether or not they could was entirely uncertain. Her Predictive programming required bias based off existing information....and the information to split wasn't even there for her to put into the equation. She could foresee some distress but that was about it. Looking out of that perspective, she knew they would need more advice, so put forth a plan in mind to solve this issue knowing _exactly_ who they should talk to.

"Apologies, but I cannot say. Consensus like this...has never been done with a human before. Let alone an AI...though a BM-AI...they hold more in common with GIS than what most people think. I know the perfect group of people we can obtain answers from."

With that she summoned another portal. Stevonnie was hesitant but Garnet insisted. If she could make them feel comfortable in knowing then that would all be what Garnet could hope they would cherish in such knowledge.

"There's a lot more to teach you that will be further explained" She said.

"Follow me."

* * *

The world they entered felt like some kind of overgrown jungle on ancient ruins; vine like cables smothering old abandoned structures. A colourful rainforest that incidentally had parts of it look like it was being overrun by actual greenery. Trees and and the ground a mixed patch of green grass and the earth. It had a particular golden glow to it and even the sounds of crickets and cicadas, an audible phenomena no longer heard naturally as the world succumbed to the sprawl of city-states. People would only hear with ASMR music or on what memories Stevonnie drew from Connie, brought back fond nostalgia from her youth. The magic in the air and the sparkles it could create. So much lost, found in preserved memories.

The aura and the energies of this place attracted them as well and even fireflies flew around, captivating Stevonnie. Why weren't there more places like this in the Domain? They sure were gorgeous. There was heat, there was a shine and combined with the audio felt very authentic. A fondness grew within and the nature of it was just so pleasant to look upon. 

"Is this a pocket?" Stevonnie queried.

Garnet nodded as they continued to walk, enjoying Stevonnie's endless curiosity for the coded worlds.

"Indeed. Its one protected by a multitude of encrypted algorithms. It has to be. Most Synthesised cannot exist outside of this place."

That was jarring...and a bit sad.

"The unfortunate fact with Synthesised is that they take up a large portion of space and processing. One, they're too powerful; two their existence is easily noted by their immense file sizes and so consensus without reason is outlawed. Since, as you know, the Domain is in decline, trying to preserve as much processing power as we can is extremely important. So anything too large that isn't part of the Domains architecture is investigated and dealt with."

Stevonnie frowned; those poor beings...trapped because of what they are.

"Then what about you and me?" They asked.

Garnet gazed up into the canopies, the false sunlight pouring its warm shine through the spaces. She was unsure, since Stevonnie didn't have a measured size which would have been because of the added Soulware that would have effectively messed with their information profile.

"We narrowly escape this clause because our file sizes are just under the limit allowed." She said, a bit more firm in her tone.

They continued to talk about how GIS generally don't use the Mod terms, but preferably an entirely new file name. Synchronicity mean equality and the balance was utmost important. Without it, the OS would not be at its most effective. Garnet wanted to be called Garnet and that others would be the same.

Eventually they came across a metal door covered in the vine like cables against a building with a large glass dome on top of it. For what reason was unknown to them, but Stevonnie could somehow detect more energies behind that door. Garnet opened it and revealed the interior.

It looked a little worse for wear, but the sun that was shining above the dome came down as a beautiful sight, but the floors themselves were like a white with speckled marble and within the dome was a quite a few unusual GIS of different shapes, sizes and limb count. They actually felt like they were intruding upon a Sacred Space, as a opposed to a safe one. Stevonnie was gobsmacked with the variety of all these GIS in one place. They would have to be better off here, than out in the open public grid and risk getting captured by Jasper.

There was a GIS that looked similar to Garnet approached her...one with four eyes and four arms and shades of black and red, her Kernel Cores on her chest and stomach respectively.

"Garnet, hello it's been a while!" She said, before noticing the silent and still Stevonnie.

"Who do we have here? Another lost OS?"

Stevonnie decided, despite their anxiousness, walked forward to introduce themselves.

"Not lost...as far I am aware." They said sheepishly. They were more confused than displaced.

Garnet smiled.

"Stevonnie this is Rhodonite. She's in charge of the occupants here." She said.

"Rhodonite, Stevonnie here is a unique OS. It is important that they have the ability to divide their components."

The GIS mentioned tapped their top fingertips together, a type of tic they possessed. Their eyes checked Stevonnie out; and engaged several scans of their form.

"They're an Unknown OS?" She said.

"This isn't a GIS?"

Stevonnie rubbed their arm like before...being unknown wasn't exactly the problem.

"No." Said Garnet.

"It's an BM-AI and a human."

Words that had all four of Rhodonites eyes widen. If Stevonnie could guess from the design of their Kernel Cores, one of them was a Pearl-Class and the other was a Ruby Class.

"What? I...geez I didn't realise AI's can do that. Or even humans...reverse engineering like they always do."

Yes they were very much aware of their own impossible existence...statements inflamed by their worries of this being irreversible. While they did like who they were, they were also worried about Connie and how she was coping. Reading her DP stats became next to impossible to see whether or not her DP was beginning to heat up because of this.

"Uh...uh don't....don't feel bad." Rhodonite assured them, seeing the depressed look on their face.

"Doesn't make you any less of a program. Just makes you...unique. Like the rest of us!"

Rhodonite wrapped one of their larger, upper arms around Stevonnie's neck in a chum like way and walked them towards the group of other Synthesised. Stevonnie's eyes became mostly focused on the giant colourful caterpillar in the back. They stood out the most and supported Stevonnie's growing expectation that this realm was more fairy like than any other they or their components had ever visited. Even in real life.

"Who's that?" They wondered.

Rhodonite grinned.

"That's Flourite; one of our largest OS...consisting of six GIS in perfect sync. She looks looks after all newcomers and is the oldest one out out of all of us. She might hold the solution to dismantle your data..."

Approaching the giant OS in question, she had this...wisdom about her, her presence and expression akin to a type of age like an old crone. The sun rays just hit her spot just right...and Stevonnie could see the six Kernel Cores on her Avatar. gleaming from the radiance. They half expected her to go into a cocoon and come out as this massive butterfly.

"Hey Flourite." She said, bringing the anxious Stevonnie to her.

"Got a newbie here...needs some....uhhh help with detangling their programs."'

The size intimidated them somewhat, but Flourite's warm smile was just that. Her head poked down and just like everyone else at this point, couldn't help but scan their form in the meanwhile. The mystery of this Unknown Executable, with psyche and soulware of a human square within its code.

"You...are...unique." She said...her pace slow.

"Leave us...I wish to speak to this one alone..."

Rhodonite nodded, as she walked off with Garnet who waved to them and wasn't going to leave the timid OS on their own for too long.

"So...how do you feel...right now?"

What could they say?

"Unsure..uncertain...kind of scared?" They said, going through their root source to properly describe their emotions on the whole.

"I know that...being close to a Monolith was part of that strange ritual."

If it could be called that. Terminology be damned.

"Indeed that...is a requirement." She continued.

"The Monolith hears a plea. It listens...learns...it does not speak...but it...for explanations unknown...does grant new code."

As Garnet explained earlier.

"In human terms, it is....but one who has met a Genie....and is granted a wish..."

The barrier between reality and fantasy was beginning to become a blur indeed. But they don't recall wishing for this; it just happened for what ever shift that forced them together in a moment of desperation.

"As for the drivers...I wonder if...the BM-AI is but a GIS."

Stevonnie furrowed their brows. A old, sour argument rose up from parts unknown, bringing up the ire of ages past.

"Steven _isn't_ a GIS." They said, a bit dismayed.

"Connie is a human...I'm worried her organic form might suffer from my existence...sure she Double Jacks with Steven but that can't be good for her health."

Flourite hummed, her eyes focusing on Stevonnie's Pink Kernel Core.

"If that...is the case...then it comes to the conclusion.....that the cause of this OS is a result of....a glitch in not just your systems...but ours...a common flaw...in GIS programming." 

A flaw?

"A topic discussed....between the other of the Synthesised. There's a runtime....that is conducted between...us that triggers a connection....to the Monolith....which is from our...emotional cortex."

So it was a feeling as opposed to an official process.

"It was never...amended or patched....PeriCom determined this...was indeed an accident. But they found some use for it...with some results.....varying among the emerged OS."

A bug in the code. Garnet described it as a blip in programming. So it was true.

"Maybe...the BM-AI could...potentially have the same bug...within _their_ emotional cortex. Our Matrices are some of the most heavily scripted, after all."

There were small similarities between GIS and BM-AIs. The factors in their personalities being the most prominent. Most GIS actually acted more like humans than majority of purely coded AIs could ever hope to. Even with this knowledge and guessing, Stevonnie wasn't after the reason as so much as ensuring that they weren't like this forever. But it gave them perspective on those already long formed; unable to live freely because of who they are. Their mind travelled around in circles, the format itself struggling to maintain some kind of comprehensive subroutine in response to their frustration with it all.

"Are...you....sure you're not a GIS?" She questioned.

No. They were they weren't....however...their form began to distort and warp, their avatar unstable. Fingers dug into their scalp as pain like a migraine rummaged through their head with the amount of noise and frantic code running through them; their voice split to a simultaneous echo of two different echoes.

Eventually with enough flickering came two forms. Steven and Connie were thrown to the floor in that instant with Connie left rubbing her head in confusion and Garnet and Rhodonite coming back over after hearing all the commotion. Steven stood up and for purpose possessed him to refute Flourites assumption.

"I don't believe that." He spurted, the anger commanding his words. He noticed the others around him and realised that came out harsher than he intended.

"I-I mean...uhh...I just don't have the file name to support it."

Flourite looked at Garnet for answers, who adjusted her visor.

"Your file name is an unidentified executable that's neither AI or GIS, but something else entirely." She said.

"Those GIS who conduct consensus still have GIS in their extension."

No one brought this topic up until now?

"So I'm just junk data? Is that it?" Steven said, getting more angry by the moment.

Meanwhile Connie stood back up, alarmed at how irritated Steven was becoming. She knew he struggled with his identity but didn't think to question other aspects, especially after meeting her mothers AI. It answered a lot and it made perfect sense. Indeed this was more complex that Connie had herself believing.

"You're not junk data Steven." Garnet told him.

"We've been through this discussion before. It does not change anything."

No. It didn't. All Connie could really do is reflect on the now, looking at her own two hands again. It was strange to admit of what she found being a part of Stevonnie. How she coalesced with code so effectively. But the part with Flourite suggesting something about the emotional cortex being a part of this unusual premise of Consensus. It could indeed be that most BM-AIs were capable of doing the same thing. Looking back at Steven, she frowned and felt compelled....to comfort him? Looking at all the other Synthesised. They weren't in too much of a predicament going from the smiles on their faces and the laughter they shared. They were indeed still having enriched lives in this safe space. Their happiness...despite the circumstances, caused a good feeling that rarely went by for Connie. One she wanted to embrace, channelling this rare experience as a positive, rather than the negative as she would have normally done.

"I agree with Garnet." She said, then turned to Flourite...one she found particularly fascinating in her design...and these Synthesised were treated unfairly and while it was important to keep the Domain stable, Connie's underlying desire in finding the Pink Monolith becoming necessary than ever, especially with the data she found connecting the Superserver to DM Biometrics. Besides that, she found Being part of the Consensus itself was _incredible,_ maybe _life-changing_ (and it wasn't a similar to intercourse like Connie did originally perceive it to be but she figured that was irrelevant anyway) and Connie could see why some would prefer it. Stevonnie was correct, like they were reading Connie's psyche in the concerns in maintaining such a form for too long.

"Thank you Flourite for trying to make sense of this..unexpected situation." She said, words she would hardly say to many a few days ago.

"I sincerely hope one day, you and your fellow Synthesised get to explore the Domain freely."

A term Flourite found endearing from a human, of all individuals.

"We are...not in the worst position...." She said.

"But I certainly wouldn't mind roaming like the old days. But you are welcome here any time. Garnet, you can grant them the access passwords...They are... trustworthy."

Words Connie would have found laughable once upon a time, but in this case, she would uphold it. This place was nothing she had seen in the Domain before and was worth defending. Honour, was such a difficult premise to abide by these days and Connie feeling it really told her how things were going to change for the better around here. Right now, she had to focus on Steven's distress and work through with it. If he was patient with her, then she would be patient with him.

* * *

In the hours that followed, they spoke with many of the other OS Synthesised and got to know them better. Steven was oddly silent for the most part so it was Connie who continued to ask all of the questions, such as that once the code was inserted it was there permanently, so if Steven and Connie desired to fuse again that it would be easier from now on. The other GIS were also curious about Connie and wanted to learn about humans after not being able to see them or hear them. Connie pitied their position...they were such lovely programs to talk to. Conversations Connie would have found boring but they had loads of their own stories to share so Connie could only exchange her own and for once in her life, enjoyed it.

Once spent, Garnet took them out of the pocket and eventually Connie and Steven returned back to the apartment to talk. Steven was still a bit peeved over several suggested concepts. His extension was the one he kept murmuring about. She listened to him by her Work Station while she sent the Data regarding the Pink Monolith she found within the PeriCom pocket to her mother, wondering if she knew anything about this. Information that flowed through the Domain was something that was kept close by most...but this was the stuff that not even Data-Brokers like Pat-Risha could get their mitts on. It had Connie feel the pride like she used to, in obtaining the data necessary for the bounty she had been hunting for years. Bounty for the glory as opposed to the cash. Though...if what she had collected so far. She knew the sustainability of the Domain she loved was at risk and these GIS, these Synthesised. It was like they had definite heart and soul within their code.

Steven continued to rant and talk to himself, standing on his CPD as he murmured. Connie could only but assume for what little they really knew about his design.

"Maybe you're the next type of AI or GIS." Connie suggested.

"Heh...maybe your extension is actually Steven. Steven dot StevenEXC."

A joke Steven wasn't amused at, judging by his crossed arms and grumpy look. Leaning back, Connie sighed as she put her hands behind her head. She could get this went under his superficial skin a great deal; an identity unknown. Connie wouldn't deny she liked being Stevonnie and found herself honoured by being...if she could so claim, by being the first human to be able to conduct Consensus. She hoped she was, anyway.

Another topic went into her head...and she couldn't yank it out. Not that she wanted to...it brought her no shortage of discomfort but if it helped Steven out then she was all for it. She detected his stress and that the two could walk away from work for the moment to allow themselves to relax. It was 8:04 pm and Connie could do with food and a movie.

"Hey...I know this is silly but..." She said, taking her hair out of its ponytail.

"Fuck it, let's order pizza...and I'll let you Double Jack with me. Hows that sound?"

A response from him was basically that of worry.

"You've had me within your DP all day." He said.

"You sure you can take it?"

Connie smirked.

"It was more like, I was within _your_ DP...figuratively speaking." She said.

After all she did not have an emotional cortex like Steven. She was human and her Soulware made sure it came out just as natural as she would have it real life.

"But come on Biscuit Boy...let's do it."

* * *

He relented as she slotted him in the back of her head and ordered several pizzas. She quickly change into pink pajamas and sat down in the lounge room and watched what ever movie was on that the time. It didn't matter and it ended up being a movie about splicing human DNA with animals...technically illegal in actuality but the movie dived into the bizarre concepts of what could happen. Connie herself had her feet on the coffee table and was chewing on pepperoni pizza, eyes half lidded as she watched the movie with apathy to the plot and to her messy, dishevelled hair like she had been asleep for hours.

"You know..." She said.

"I thought about what Flourite said...in regards to the glitch that allows Consensus to happen like that."

It had her heating up all over just by talking about it. Talking about it, had Connie put together multiple ideas and conclusions. Her observations of Garnet and the other Synthesised and their situations.

"The command is a Subconscious User Action kind of like..."

A random pepperoni fell into her lap as it slid off the slice in her hand.

"An accident?" Steven said.

Connie chuckled as she put the piece down and picked the piece off of her lap and examined it.

"An unforeseen consequence." She continued, before eating it.

"A runtime put into motion without checking for errors until its too late but it's not like it's the end of the world."

Steven didn't follow.

"So the result is still delicious?" He assumed.

Not really the terms she would use, but Connie couldn't help but be amused by his naivety.

"You never asked Garnet how she came to be?" She put forth.

She could practically feel Steven scratching his head.

"She's not...exactly forthcoming with her history. I only just found out about a lot today." He answered.

And Garnets GIS. Ruby, Sapphire...and the existence of Flourite. Their contentment of being themselves was what Connie was reading from their manners alone. That they weren't alone. Stevonnie would only think that because they've just come into existence. It was the formulation in what caused their existence was what Connie was gauging at. Pressing her hand against her chest, she could feel the heightened beats and was grateful Steven could only feel and not actually read her mind...unless they were sleeping.

But Steven definitely feel Connie's emotions fluctuating...no...they were just a simmering heat that he hadn't felt from her before, becoming worried that she was feeling sick. Maybe food poisoning?

"Connie, you feeling alright?" He asked, concerned as always. He was like that, ever since the incident...while he was left angry beforehand, his interest in Connie's wellbeing was more consistent, a desire to check in on her more apparent than ever. Stevonnies demonstrated warrants for her health partially born on his end too.

"Maybe these pizzas weren't made with sanitary checks in place..."

Connie rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine Steven." She replied softly.

She had to put this in context that she herself could understand, as well as Steven first and foremost. Her mother AI, wasn't against the idea and Connie herself after much self-torment and grief that it had once caused her, grew to accept it the more she allowed it to flow. Stevonnie helped with this and the way that it affected Connie in such a way she had never thought she would have. A feeling that had no name but it was strong, pure and sturdy. The mixture of happiness and adoration...the latter an expression she hadn't had in years, wallowing in the depravities of her Hacker life. Not caring of the consequences to herself as long as it served as a means to an end. 

It was, as if...looking upon the colourful crowd of happy individuals changed Connie for the better.

"But seriously though Steven...it makes you wonder. An emotion is what caused this to happen and I think I understand which one it could have been."

There was a lot to say in regards to the different types of emotions one would feel for another. Subtle or extreme or somewhere in between. The human nuance to fill in the gaps as to what it could possibly mean and yet still yearn for answers. It could hurt for the right and wrong reasons. It was usually up to the individual to explore their meaning because it was never the same for everyone.

And for those Connie's had specific feelings towards; this one stood out the most. The one in regards to Steven himself.

"Steven, you know how you said about you feeling something for me...a matter of fact you were probably right about the rest of that."

Connie could almost feel him raising an eyebrow.

"Right about what?" He asked, forgetting one of their older conversations they had a while ago.

Connie giggled and blushed..With Steven left questioning her increasing temperatures but allowed her to answer him first before he could do so.

"Fuck...I mean, there's this thing with humans when they grow up." Connie answered, finishing off the slice she had before as she shoved it all into her mouth, chewed and swallowed it.

"We watch and learn from our surrounding environments. Children to teenagers to adults; we see and change a lot. We form our own expectations, realisations of the world we live in. BM-AIs...surely the humans they're created from have all of that in place."

Meaning he was practically human in a mental sense with the odd tweak here and there.

"And I understand Consensus a bit better now. It makes sense when you think about it."

How did it make sense? Steven still wasn't grasping it as much as he'd liked, frustrating him more because he just....

"Maybe for a human it does." Steven acknowledged.

"So of course you would see it differently."

Connie couldn't help but laugh. It was genuine and Steven should have felt annoyed, but the fluttering and the way Connie was heating up and charging right now, distracted Steven to the point of he himself feeling like there was an underlying explanation Connie was trying to get across to him. So he became more annoyed that Connie was beating around the bush with what she was trying to say for real.

"Just...tell me Connie...please. Just this once, be honest with me. What do you think this is?"

She paused to reflect, saying nothing as she sat herself up and brushed off all the crumbs and sat up up right, stopping the movie outright. It was enough to tell Steven she was serious about this and the thoughts given to her more coherently...she just had to make sure they were expressed the same way. Nerves at her, as they were. A new experience giving way to revelations that Connie had begun to think differently. She wasn't angry or dismayed or disappointed. Surprised? Yes. Pleasantly so? Double yes. There was a fear of the horizons unexplored she would never dare to venture unless there was something of benefit to her and her ambitions. Be the best Hacker out there...Berrybyte a name whispered and written in forums of her legendary feats. But speaking with the Synthesised and their history was enriching to say the least and paved a clearer path for Connie alone.

A heart that lost the fear and in it's place, was a fullness she hadn't had in years. There was still hurt but there was much more now. She could only hope that Steven himself was still willing because while she was in this new light, the fear itself could rear its ugly head at any given moment. Tormented, left reaching for the aforementioned light at the end of a dark tunnel she'd spent many a year travelling. And now since she's met Steven, new horizons came across to her in the best ways possible. And now...the sunrise itself was about to peak over it. Risking much to see it appear or fall. She took his CPD out and inserted into the stand on the table next to her. His hologram popped up and looked at Connie properly. The warmth in her and the tears in her eyes and her smile...

"I think...no, I _know_ I feel something for you." She revealed to him.

"These... _.fusions_...these OS's and GIS... talked about their experiences and they all have common threads. The affection they share. There's a string that connects them, binds them. It bound Stevonnie for the same reason."

Words that if they popped up on a HUD and in short hand descriptions, would look like:

_Steven. EXE has stopped working._

It took him a while to get his thought process functioning again, almost needing a reboot with the revelations provided, unaware that they would it hit him harder than he would have anticipated it to be. His form glitched out for the split second before he could properly respond. Consensus...the fact that what Connie had said in that Pocket had him feeling something so intense and powerful it could create an OS on its own and kick the ass of anyone they came across. The awesome factor...and the other factor Connie insinuated...he could now make sense of it. It was a feeling he had possessed and had not let go.

" _Connie_ I...." He stammered, once he was able to speak again.

Connie as now blushing profusely, looking away with an embarrassed look on her face. She probably wasn't looking at him his file freaking out. _Probably_. But there was something so [cute] about Connie being [awkward]. Her stomach threatened to flip and in that moment after, it briefly did.

"Look it's weird and it silly but ya know an AI and a human you think we'd work like regular- what the _fuck_ am I saying...I _can't_ do this."

Going back to her abrasive self, Connie stood up, with the intention, going from the direction she was about to head in, was about to go into the bathroom...and Steven instinctively did not want her to go in there at all. She was all for it one moment, then suddenly couldn't bare the weight of it. He could see what she was trying to do and in that moment of vulnerabiltiy she was betrayed by her own fears; something Steven had to re-affirm her with that she didn't have to give up when she had gone so far. If anything, he was oddly proud of her, like Garnet was with Stevonnie. Except Steven had now understood a lot more and had both Connie and Garnet to thank.

"Connie it's okay." He assured her, wanting Connie to come back. What could he say? This feeling never went away for him and yes, he could at least agree with her on some terms.

"Its weird and silly for me as well. But...you're here to help me on this remember?"

Tense with risen shoulders, she was shaking for a moment, before heaving a huge sigh and turning around, gazing upon Steven with a sad expression before she sat back down next to him. The same worry on her face as she leaned her arm on the arm rest and held her forehead with the same hand and made a nervous laugh. She was there to help him yes...but not like this. Why did she even bother to acknowledge it if she felt nothing was going to become of it? Other than this new OS they could use in their endeavours.

"Yeah. Yeah...fucking hell...I didn't sign up for this you know that...I don't even fucking know what to do or how to do it...it feels good saying it but what in the world for?" She questioned.

What for indeed. But Steven had become more optimistic than ever; a display of her honesty touching his digital heart in the best way possible. He put his hand on her arm, tiny as hell and generally ineffective physical wise but Steven didn't care. This tiny pink sprite thing looked up to this human with all the hope it could muster, demonstrating his declaration in a way that struck Connie's real heart with empowered thumps of nerve and anxiety.

"Why don't do we discover this together? What it means for the both of us." Steven put forth.

Connie was noticeably hesitant. _Dating_ an AI...a strange sentence uttered by no one. But shes had far worse challenges before. 

"You know there's gonna be a tonne of complications right?" She warned, trying to push back already, before they'd even had the chance to try.

She was still truthful in that; No one was gonna lie.

"I'm not as naive as you think Connie..." He said. He was but he wanted to learn, to be able to process it all for real and being able to explore boundaries and those beyond. It would mean a great deal to him and he was definitely willing to try his best. If Stevonnie was the beginning, then what else would be out there for them?

"But let us take it one self-made tutorial at a time, if you're happy with that."

Connie sighed again, exhaling harder than before. Intimidating wasn't the right word.

"I hate to admit that you're right." She acknowledged in the rare submission of the facts. She tried to smile at him, despite her twisted emotions.

"Fine...but I get to pick the dating spots alright?"

Steven never felt more happier in his life...and suddenly the feelings Connie had were echoed into his own, warm and welcoming an anxiety inducing that he could just melt as he hugged her arm, which caused Connie to do that cute giggle of hers.

"Of course, my dear..." He said with joy.

"We'll write this into our code so we don't forget it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AI Lore feat. Medical Intelligence Consultant (MIC) Priyanka:
> 
> Human Avatars are the self image of their human forms. Alterations and modifications are pretty popular as they suit the personal preference of their user so what they lack in the firepower of what GIS possess, they make it up in diversity and skillsets shown and used within the Domain itself.  
> Destruction of Human Avatars can vary but there are mandatory regulations in place in case of an emergency. Every Avatar must have an emergency runtine so that in case their shell is damaged to the point of the distortion being too great, their psyche and Soulware are automatically ejected out of the system as another safety measure, or else they risk their own deaths in the real world.. Their Avatar can be restored with a debugging tool or if its beyond repair, they must either commission a new one or if they're smart enough, they'll have a copy stored somewhere. Otherwise, they'll begin with their Default Form; actually decided by the Domain upon first entering it for the first time.
> 
> Humans can also store parts of their additional programs either in their Avatars or Soulware. The Avatar storage is limited and easy to access on the fly, where as the Soulware is limitless but a little harder to draw upon. Humans risk losing the programs stored within their Avatars if they are destroyed, but do keep everything thats stored within their Soulware. So they must be careful on what to use and what to store.
> 
> Next chapter, we'll talk about AI Avatars.


	18. Temperature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie takes Steven on a chilling date.

No one would have imagined it to be like this.

A few bumps in the road ahead was to be expected, but it turned better than they had planned. The new couple worked and hung out like they normally did. Feelings were feelings and exploring them became their new avenue. In the Domain and out of it and while a new level of comfort was met, the complications of fear of outsiders looking in was becoming a new problem.

Ronaldo was all for it, as he always had been; excited over the prospect of his favourite couple finally doing the dating thing. It was even him who helped Steven research for hours on end into the perfect dates. Connie on the other hand, didn't really care much for the schmaltz personally. As long as she could chat and hang out with him, she was fine. Being lowkey wasn't the worst thing in a world and emotionally Connie was at a zone of peace that she hadn't felt in a long time. 

The year itself was coming to an end and the sense of a chill became apparent. The world itself still had snowstorms and rugging up became norm. Connie looked forward to drinking the old ancient drink of hot coco and marshmellows, as they brought fond memories of her youth to the front, even though most of the time they were bittersweet.

Her main focus was the usual job here and there but investigating much behind the decline of the Domain and the missing Pink Monolith and the data retrieved to connect the dots to DM Biometrics. At one point, her AI mother was able to retrieve bits and pieces of what she knew and Connie was busy looking over numerous reports before she had enough of reading through mass amounts of text.

Steven was busy as well, doing his own thing. She looked at his CPD and the topic of his own origins became somewhat of an unspoken concern. His anger of his identity, or lack there of, disturbed him more so. It worried Connie that his assumption over him being junk data or an AI that wasn't programmed to completion was a point of contention to him being his own...what ever he really was. As far as Connie was concerned, he was real. He was functioning and the feelings she had towards him were genuine. He never spoke about during their many conversations as their chatter only went into details regarding their work, pop culture or issues and philosophies.

It was so...natural and it was all fitting in quite nicely. Connie's dated before, but this was different. Connie had taken Steven to places far beyond his digital reach. And one place, he never expected him to take her.

Taking the hoverbike, wearing her bikesuit with black boots, the two travelled east, beyond Mega Beach City to the untouched western farmlands. Hills but now with large towers and over head powerlines that stretched beyond the horizon. What was once green by Connie's description, was covered in white snow. Steven was double jacked within Connie at the time and even with her protective leathers, there was a definite chill in the air far colder than what one would normally experience in the cities. All one could hear was the howling winds and nothing else. The silence itself was golden and overall ambience brought serenity at first, but then, an overall uncomfortable sickness boiled within Connie's stomach. She didn't say or budge, only that this feeling of what amounted to anxiety and dread was building inside of her.

Through her eyes, he could see a tall house in the distance; double story but charred in black and covered in snow. She parked the car in front of it and he noted that was gargantuan. A frame of loneliness was a whisper of its description and the sickness within Connie grew as she took her helmet off and put on the bike itself. Steven had but to ask.

"Are you alright?"

She pulled him out from behind her head and projected his form as she held him in her hand. He looked between the stoic look on her face and the burnt down building, which looked a lot worse up close. The windows were gone and the door itself was rested up against the wall next to the entrance. It took him a moment to realise where they were.

"This was the house you grew up in, wasn't it?"

She never spoke about it a great deal and even the story Steven had about the incident was heard from a third party. Suddenly he understood why she felt ill upon the gaze of it.

"Yeah." She said.

This was the strangest date they'd ever been on...unless Connie had other reasons for being here. She took him through the front entrance and remained silent.

Inside was also pitch black; broken and burnt down furniture and appliances. Steven looked around himself; he didn't need to scan to see that this place had been at home at some point. The stairs to the right and the kitchen and dining area on the left and the door to the backyard on the upper end. Connie's attention was in the room next to the stairs however...and lead him into the lounge room. Charred couches and coffee table and in the corner was the fireplace. Connie placed Steven down on the table and allowed him to look around, but his focus was on Connie alone as she walked to the fireplace and pulled off a glove. She ran her fingers over the brickwork and rubbed the dust and ashes off of her fingers.

"Growing up." She said.

"The fireplace was usually always lit up during this time of the year where it got the coldest. Dad used to tell me stories about his work....and the stories about the Man on the Moon who used to grow strawberries."

Strawberries on the moon? That didn't make any sense.

"Why would one grow strawberries on the moon?" He said.

"There's no oxygen or water and the soil probably isn't exactly the best condition to grow them." He said, completely serious.

Connie couldn't help but giggle at Steven's naivety. He was cute like that.

"Because they're just stories Biscuit-Boy." She said.

Ah. Fictional tales. Steven was intrigued.

"Do you remember much about them?" He asked.

A few...some aged and were forgotten with time. But overall, she remembered the man in a bit of detail.

"Sort of. The Man on the Moon was born there, didn't know how or why. But he tended to his field of strawberries everyday. The man was...very lonely so he often spoke to the strawberries, while looking at the Earth in the distance and always said to his Strawberries; 'One day, I'm going to visit that planet.'"

A sad premise...but it hooked Steven up big time. Still, he didn't think that there was much sense in growing things on the moon in general, but he took Connie's word for it.

"Did he ever get there?" The AI wondered.

Connie looked down, then looked at the pink hologram with another neutral expression.

"I honestly can't recall." She answered, before walking around running her hands on a nearby wall. She could hear her fathers voice in the room as she imagined herself sitting on the couch while he sat next to her with the pair looking into the flames.

"The Man made many attempts using bits and pieces of stuff that just happened to be lying around on the moon...while trying to protect his precious strawberries from hungry Moon Cats who wanted to make cookies with the strawberries."

Okay now that was ridiculous.

"Why are there cats on the moon?" He asked.

Connie froze for a bit. Steven could be literal at times in pointing out flaws and strange happenings. She kept forgetting the world of fiction was so obscure to him and using his imagination wasn't always his strong suit. Came with being an AI, she gathered. But she decided to humour him.

"You know what? I'm not actually sure." She said.

"For the same reason the man was?"

Did they ever find out?

"Surely the Man had enough Strawberries to share." Steven told her.

"Let's see, if he had a large enough patch and given the growth cycles with strawberries themselves, they would ne-"

Connie couldn't help but snort with laughter.

"What? What's so funny?" He asked, offended.

She shook her head, grinning ear to ear.

"You don't need to constantly poke plot holes in these stories." She said.

"A lot of them were metaphors. About not giving up...and being grateful for the things you have....which suffice to say..."

Her mind stopped her from talking outright as it hinged on certain aspects, with new ideas flooding in.

"Dad was always going on about the legacies we leave behind for our successors....he hoped that when I got older, I would inherit this house so Mom and himself would move out of it and find somewhere else to live..."

Why would they do that?

"They didn't want to live with you anymore?" Steven wondered.

She sighed heavily.

"It's a human thing." Connie told him, while looking at a nearby mirror on the wall that had shards on the floor as she looked at Steven's reflection on it.

"I believed the Man was eternal and the Moon Cats were a clowder of felines that had this initiative to leave trails behind. That each successive generation would improve upon the last. Different strategies as to how to steal the strawberries. They had....made cookies with all sorts. They had conquered blueberries, peaches and cream...but never the fabled strawberry. The Mans lifes work wasn't going to be ruined by filthy space kittens."

Steven still thought the man was greedy; surely he had enough to spare.

"Did the Man ever think to, I dunno, make a deal with them...trade the strawberries to perhaps, I dunno...find a way to make it to Earth using their resources? Sounds like deal breaker to me."

Connie never thought about it that way.

"Hm...you have a point." She said, humming and patting her index finger on her lips as she contemplated. He still wasn't getting it, however.

"Stories like these have meanings for the reality of our lives. There's nothing in your matrices that had somehow...I dunno...correlate this kind of thing to your history?'

Not that Steven was aware of. He dealt with the truth and the absolutes. Philosophies he found fascinating but otherwise there wasn't much to pinpoint...unless specific feelings come to mind.

"Not really." He said.

"But the way you feel snow...is it weird I find the cold synonymous with some strange feeling I can't identify?"

Through the last few months, Steven's noted what his emotions connect with. Hot, cold...the stuff Connie feels while he's riding in her head. The topic of the cold always comes up as the most outstanding sensation that is definitely linked to his abstract past, but never went into the details.

"Something with your donor I think?" Connie theorised.

"Talking with my Mom, she says what she feels for me is one of the strongest connections she has. I am her donors daughter. Your Donor..."

Whom ever they were.

"They often called this sensation the DEJA-VU Bug (Digitised Emotional Jargon with Attachment Variable Unload)."

Her mother described it only occurring in BM-AI's. As they inherit the emotional imprints of their donors and during production these bugs do arise. They're normally harmless, unless the memory itself was quite vivid and painful enough for the AI to meltdown but otherwise its a line of code that just sits there until there's a memory correlation that activates it. Sometimes even certain memory wipes will fail to miss this piece during the process and risk activating the feeling.

"S _omething to do with my donors past..._ " Steven muttered to himself.

The cold...it was always about the cold. But he felt so strongly towards Connie...so why would that be any different?

"Do humans have this sort of thing too?"

Of course.

"Our emotions are more complex and varied." Connie said, looking at the nearby wall and seeing her growth markings etched into it.

"This place brings a lot to me....I feel nostalgia...longing for the past lost to me."

She also felt sick.

"And you feel...sadness..." He said.

"This place is a mixed bag for you."

Connie huddled herself and walked back towards the table. She was aware Steven could sense how she feels while riding, but such a description of being able to identify such thing surprised her at first, but overall, it allowed him to be educated on such nuances in her own statements of how complex humanity really is...she found herself having to teach him the hard way sometimes so she couldn't have to over complicate. He was better off feeling it all himself, anyway. As much as Connie loved him learning about the wide world he would normally never have access to, she didn't want to explain just about everything. It was about his own journey and exploration. Something her mother had encouraged her to do. To make ones on conclusions. After all, Connie hated being told what to feel without experiencing it all for herself. For that for an AI like him would be cruel.

"Yeah..." She said, her tone lacking energy.

Then why were they really here if it was only going to cause Connie pain in the end?

"I haven't been here since the accident." Connie admitted.

"But the echoes of the past still remain. Birthdays...Holidays...I never had anyone else in my life besides Mom and Dad."

But she still had people she loved. She never told Steven about the years spent in foster care...but going from those quick glimpses, they sounded horrible.

"But you have me." Steven acknowledged with a smile.

That was true...and now with this thing out in the open with each other gave Connie much more room to breath and express and she was so thankful for it.

"I'm sure you can count Ronaldo AND while it's not exactly her, you have some form of your mom still here, that piece of legacy you were talking about."

The thought of Ronaldo being someone special in her life amused Connie greatly...and his Dad and annoying little brother. Though they weren't that close, but appreciated Ronaldo's honesty and integrity from time to time. Those people were rare to find.

She took Steven with her again and walked up the stairs, which groaned with each footstep. Upstairs was a hallway with a few rooms. Connie went to the back one on the left. The door was still closed and intact and so Connie went on inside.

Surprisingly, this room had the least amount of damage. The odd patch of char there which meant the firefighters were able to douse the flames before it totally consumed the room. Walls of blue with strawberries inside clouds and a single bed at the back with wooden drawers and a dark blue rug on floorboards.

"This was your room." Steven said.

Connie nodded. The feeling itself got stronger as Connie's throat tightened with anxiety.

"Days spent playing with dolls or playing the violin on a rainy spring afternoon. Heh...I remember the strong, sweet scent of wet strawberries that wafted through the window. I used to love the downpours." Connie stated.

Now it was frosty and Steven could see the condensation escaping Connie's mouth. She placed him on top of a chair, while he watched her lay down on the ground and reached for something under the bed. She pulled out a red tin box and sat down on the bed as she placed the box in her lap.

"This is what I've been looking for." She said.

"I'm surprised it's still here."

Steven was curious as to what she looking at.

"Mom reminded me of a time capsule I made when I was younger. To remind myself of the treasures I had in my youth. Things only I would find valuable." She said.

And he was also reminded why he felt so strongly towards Connie; the hidden aspect to her warm personality shone through when they were alone. That and she didn't curse as much. Opening it, she ruffled through what sounded like light paper and pulled out one square piece. Her face went flash as she grinned, although there looked there was text on the back. She showed Steven the picture of two men.

"My dad liked to take photos with people who hired him for their companies." She said.

"Mom found it strange but I think it's kind of cute."

A tall dark skinned man that Connie had apparently gotten her nose from. The man next to him, however, was a larger, portly man with glasses, and long brown hair. Just looking at him sent a glitched shiver down Steven's theoretical spine.

"Who's the guy he's with?" He asked.

Connie hummed as she looked at the picture more closely, though Steven could see the text clearer on the back now, squinting as he scanned it.

"Doug with....Dr. Greg DeMayo?"

She paused to reflect. The same Greg DeMayo who was in charge of DM Biometrics and the production of the Pink Monolith?

"The missing developer?" Steven questioned.

They had their research into finding more about this Greg person, but couldn't find anything within Connie's list of contacts. He was wiped off the map completely. Even when Connie asked her mom about it, she said she never met the guy, who was said to go missing before Priyanka was made.

"Dad must have known Greg for such a short time." Connie stated.

That's where Connie saw him; from the list of databases with the odd photo.

"Maybe your Mom got a reference via your Dad?" Steven theorised.

Perhaps. But that wasn't the problem.

"That doesn't bring us closer to finding him though." Connie said, sighing. She placed the photo on the chair next to Steven, who examined closer.

For some odd reason Steven was getting odd pings. The pings in his head became more frequent and fast paced by the moment and that eventually it became rather painful as flashes went by his visual receptors and caused him to hold his head and growl.

"Steven what's wrong?" Connie asked, fearful?

The flashes messed with his audio receptors too.

"S- tell....Steven?"

* * *

Going black, he could hear muffled noises. Male voices. Steven tried to amplify and clear the muffles up but he couldn't access his HUD. Eventually the muffling stopped on its own but it was still baseless, like he was listening to a conversation through a wall. The sensation of the cold returned to him; far more intense than he would have liked.

"So what do you think?" One voice asked.

"What do I think?" Another queried.

"Yeah." He said.

"I very rarely show anyone this. I mean, you've got a kid right? This one is mine."

What were they talking about?

"I've never heard anyone consider this sort of thing their child. Is this even _legal?_ "

A child....

"Probably not." Said the first voice.

Steven felt unnatural things attached to his form. He still couldn't see but he was still quite unsure...he was somewhere. Still dark, cold and...damp? Other noises could be heard that he couldn't identify, they were close but only came up in short bursts.

"You said...the...thing spoke to you right...so its true then. These things are sentient?"

What things?

"Oh yeah....she tells me all sort of stuff...it's odd." Said the first voice.

"Scientific mumbo jumbo and I had my cousin call me crazy but it's all true. I sincerely hope you can keep this all in good confidence right? You won't tell a soul?"

Someone was keeping secrets.

"I've signed dozens of disclosure agreements over the years Doctor." Said the second voice.

"Although not anything this bizarre."

A Doctor...

" _AAAnd_ my daughter isn't exactly a several tonne piece of machinery...but it's actually interesting to finally see one of these things up close. I've never believe I'd see one in my life time."

The other man had a daughter...

"Not many people do." Said the first voice.

"But we're family and you get family. My only issue is that she wants them to see the world....I hope that they get to travel one day. Learn about what it means to be human..."

Family...

"Huh....didn't think that they had certain requirements. Is this what all of them are like?" The second voice asked.

And to be human....

"Never met the others." Said the first voice.

"Don't care to. This one is the most advanced out of the quadrant. PeriCom wants it to bring a new age of stability and technology but this one is the most fascinated with organic life. It asks me questions constantly about the world we live in."

Just like him....

"Isn't that meant to be...like some kind of bug within their programming? I mean with GIS and AI's in general....it's common knowledge that the questioning part causes the most alarm."

What was wrong with asking about the world? There was so much out there waiting to be discovered and the knowledge gained grants new perspectives all the time.

"When you have sentient beings in your hands that are born into the world with the capability to think for themselves as well as inbuilt learning algorithms, of course you're gonna have them throwing the heavy stuff at you. They literally don't know any better. How are we going to develop as a society, co-existing with these constructs if we do not learn how to live together? Surely your daughter is going to go through this with you as she grows up. Are you going to deny her answers?"

Steven certainly hoped not.

"She's still young." Said the second voice.

"She'll get the right answers at the right time. Humans are this stage have an insatiable hunger. As for this one here..."

AI's had that hunger too.

"Oh she wants them to start anew." Said the first voice.

"A fresh perspective on life...and that they will grow to understand far more with their reach. Designed to be able to comprehend their nature and the very nature of humanity."

Wait...

"Do they have a name?" Asked the second voice.

"I suppose if it is your child, figuratively speaking, it has to have a name."

The first man hummed.

"We've talked about...we're gonna wait until it's mental processors are at the golden state."

Golden state...

"It's a term used to describe the production cycle of an AI. The Golden State is normally after the alpha and beta states. It's where an AI is capable of identifying itself since its cortex has enough information to be able to form its own opinion and bias. So we ask it a series of questions...present pictures and play music. Give it some taste and personality."

He's heard of that before...GIS don't have this from what the Ancillas told Steven.

"Depending on it's gender positioning, if its a female, Nora. If it's a male, Steven. Neither? We'll let it choose."

Wait....

"Cute..." Said the second voice.

"Maybe I could bring my daughter around...if that's permissible. I think if you want this thing to be able to learn about the world it would need friends right?"

No...hang on a second...

"Hey, you know what? That's a great idea!" The first voice said, enthusiastic about the concept.

"You're not just a pretty face Mr. Maheswaran."

WHO?

"Just call me Doug." The second man replied.

"I mean, my girl is very small and my wife will think this is very stupid but...."

Connie's Dad? Then the girl...

"Nonsense!" Said the first man.

"It's not stupid at all. It'd be like a play date. I mean, my cousin again would think like your wife too but I sincerely believe this will help with the development phase. When they start speaking of course is a good indicator that Beta Phase is due to end and the Golden State is about to begin. It might take years but what doesn't?"

No way....

"Done deal then. Dr. DeMayo." Said Doug.

He laughed.

"Just call me Greg...oh man, _**she's**_ gonna love this..."

* * *

"STEVEN!"

The scene stopped as Steven found himself snapped back to reality and staring at Connie's face for the longest time. Did...did she not remember... there was so much to take in.

"Earth to Steven answer me or do I have to get the Ancillas to fix you and your biscuit brain?"

He shook his head. He was back in the bedroom.

"No...no...I'm okay." He responded, rubbing his head.

"I...just...."

Connie frowned as she put everything back into the tin and picked up Steven's CPD. She figured something was heavily wrong with all of this. He'd shut down for a good few minutes, unresponsive to Connie as a red sphere blinked on the top of his head, indicating he was stuck in some kind of loading loop cycle of sorts. What caused it, she wasn't sure. But looking at the picture of her father and Dr. DeMayo...she wondered...

"Let's go home. The atmosphere and temperature must be freezing your wires." Connie spoke of with deep worry.

* * *

Arriving back at the Apartment, Connie messaged her mother instantly and communicated with her about the stuff she found. Steven had disappeared back into the Domain before Connie could question him with what happened. Connie was left at a loss...and had to come to terms with what was said and done. After a while of contemplation and self-reflection, she contacted her mother.

The two agreed to meet up in a park in the Domain. Like always it was Sunny day, warm in contrast to the essences of winter.

"Your father knew Dr. DeMayo from his brief employment...didn't know they were best buddies however." Priyanka said.

The two walked the footpaths within a place known as Cypress Park. A popular spot to walk and talk with the multitude of trees scattered about.

"But now it makes sense...he did suggest the voluntary donation after all. Dr. DeMayo must have talked him into it."

Connie nodded. Which suggested more oddities were to be expected.

"Steven's been acting strange..." She told her.

"He went silent for a few minutes then suddenly he doesn't want to fucking talk about it."

And definitely when at first moment he dived deep into the Domain without Connie being able to put her two cents in; which frustrated her greatly.

"We were talking about the DEJA-VU Bug...you don't think that it was messing him up do you?"

As far as what Priyanka knew about the topic itself, some were negligible...others...dire and potentially thought provoking to the point where the memories would pose a threat to their stability overall.

"Steven's existence is a very odd topic to begin with." She said.

"If his memories were wiped, then it stands to reason that there was definitely a good understanding as to why. As I have told you, DEJA-VU is a very divided topic. But I can try and get in contact with various BM-AIS to gauge their experiences with the bug. I've been writing up topics and thesis' regarding AI's in general. So it will be an undertaking if I have enough of a pool of subjects to work with."

She wanted to study Steven further?

"I don't know if he'll be willing." Connie told her.

"Shit, I just want to know if he's going to be okay."

Priyanka smiled as she wrapped her arm around her daughter; for what physicality they can muster within the Domain was a gift not taken for granted.

"Just let him know that you're there for him if he needs to talk. Don't push him...like humans, there are always going to be sensitive secrets people vicariously guard. Just be patient is all I will suggest."

* * *

Later on that night, Connie had eaten alone; having ordered Chinese. She tried to watch TV but it wasn't the same without him here. When it was around 11:30, Connie decided to head to bed alone. Her heart began to ache; missing his company and his voice, something she didn't want to admit, even to her prideful self.

The light with her lamp was her only beacon of sorts. Stuck in a light blue shirt and white panties, Connie was tempted to go under the sheets and fall into slumber...only that Steven's form reappeared on the stand next to her, looking exhausted. She sat up by her pillows, stunned he'd come back all of a sudden as his pink light brightened the room

"So sorry Connie." He said, looking at her in earnest.

"I...I just..."

She shook her head. Her mother was right. She had to be patient. She was normally patient with her work and generally most of the time with Steven; but he was so used to talking and asking questions so him being quiet like he was, had been an unexpected path.

"Shh it's alright." She said with a reassuring smile.

He used to talk about wanting to make Connie feel good. Connie was striven to do the same but he refuted in saying that she would make him feel good irregardless. No. He wasn't feeling good. At all. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

"No...it's not." He said, frustrated with himself.

"I...look, I don't know how to explain it..."

Connie shook her head. She cared more about his mindset then what ever bullshit had been hidden from her.

"Steven shut up for a second and listen to me." She said as she shuffled herself closer to his hologram.

"Don't explain shit with me if it makes you uncomfortable and freak the fuck out. Unless it's something you wanna get off your chest like you desperately need to take a shit, then don't bother. You do it when you're ready and willing..."

Something about giving space to breath as well. Connie always urged him to be wary and make himself scarce if she needed time to herself; Steven was always under this idea to be super clingy in a relationship. He didn't have to be...and yes, Connie wanted him to be honest with her like she was with him and their relationship improved with talking about doubts and expectations. 

"Oh....um....sure...okay...." He said, uncertain as he looked away in guilt.

"I uh...well..."

Connie rolled her eyes. She could see how much this was hurting him...so she made do with her own internal promise to take care of him, as he had for her.

"Hey...just...forget about it...for now." She told him, arching her finger as she nestled the tip of her index underneath his chin. She could feel the warmth of his projected light across her skin...the form wasn't solid but still emitted enough for her to know that he was there.

Warm. She had to keep him warm. Which gave her an idea. Could risk some or a lot, but they wouldn't know if they didn't try.

"I want you to Double Jack with me tonight. I want to show you something special." She offered with a warmth in her tone.

Steven blinked.

"Another dream?" He asked.

Her smile grew wider.

"Much better than a dream." She said.

"Come on."

Steven nodded as she took his CPD and slotted him into her DP and allowed him to load. Ronaldo had done some further tests with Connie's DP and the time Steven had previously spent double jacking with her. He noticed, in small increments that the time frames allowed before the DP would overheat would extend, meaning the synchronicity between the two had been naturally improving, Connie's overall tolerance had been heightened etc.

She laid herself out on the bed, head against the wall and nestled herself within the pillows; allowing herself to get comfy. She wiggled and extended her legs and feet towards the end of the bed and wiggled her toes. She wanted Steven to see everything. From her chest, to her stomach...

He felt her heartbeat increase; the anticipation thriving within before she could even start doing...what ever it was she was planning to do. Her right hand went to her stomach and lifted her shirt, revealing her belly button. She started to rub with the odd tender squeeze which sent sparks running through her; little tiny thrilling bolts that sent pings all over. Soon her hand went to her inner thigh, rubbing that as well. Her breathing was slow and bated with the tiny sighs here and there.

"How does that feel Steven?" She asked him, ever so softly.

Could he properly describe it?

"It feels...good?" He answered, not sure of the correct answer.

"Good?" She parroted.

"Do you want me to keep going?"

Of course. Steven's curiosity intensified with this intriguing ritual of self-exploration. The sensation of her skin from her fingers was something else. He's seen her naked and been none the wiser over the months but hardly from this perspective...where the touches were more...potent with the thumps of her heart getting harder.

"Yes please." He responded in her kind.

Connie was definitely encouraged with is politeness...a trait she found annoying, but from him it was like a breath of fresh air against all the assholes she's had to deal with over the years. She swallowed, practically giddy and waiting for Steven's reaction to it all. She was certainly hoping to open more doors for him tonight.

So her fingers finished dusting off her thigh and went towards her crotch, the touch of fabric above it and made her fingers dance. More sparks, more embers emerged like metal on metal. But the feeling was much more than the witnessing, the examining. It was...another world of perspective other than just seeing and hearing. The sensation of touch alone was always a particular grinding barrier for Steven...and Connie who knew who's name was on her lips back then, her intentions and desires that once originally frightened her; she was willing to embrace.

Her fingers ran circles and it wasn't exactly a ticklish sensation but...eventually she moved them up and dove her fingers underneath the waist band of her panties...and all at excruciatingly slow pace. Steven couldn't command her even if he tried. Connie knew what she was doing.

Steven was learning about differences in texture...fabric, skin...metal. Hard, soft...this however, as Connie dove deep and he felt the lump that as soon as Connie touched it, began to ache. Like before, she ran circles around it and her breathing had skipped a few times and her legs bent outwards. It was difficult to see what she was doing from this point of view, as Connie's gaze was looking down at herself and the rest obscured by her panties. Her heart-rate increased yet again but...

"Connie..." He voiced, his soft tones clear in her head.

"I..uh...can I see what you're doing down there? If...if it's not much to ask."

She giggled. She found this so oddly adorable as well...and from the sound of his voice alone she could hear him almost lost to the experience and doing exactly as she wanted him to.

"Hehe...do you want to disconnect and watch me? Or be _in_ me and feel it instead?" She questioned.

Either was fine...there was an appeal in letting him watch and observe. Right now, he was definitely thinking about his options.

"I'll uh..." He said, taking in the sparks some more.

"I'll um...I'll stay."

Words that made Connie shiver for an unknown reason. As for his request, there will be another time for that, Connie was certain. If he was enjoying this and if Connie was sensing it right, that he was, then they would have all the time to go through the notions of what he liked and the potential he had to go through the ways an AI can experience intimacy. It was on Connie's mind for months; if an AI could go through what humans could easily fit themselves into; the feral constructs of their sexual desires, the intensity of rocking such a fragile world that could make or break...and Steven was the one who Connie had become to see that would...most logically, take the heat so to speak. Testing limitations was something Connie had risked on many occasions and came out on top most of the time...

She continued to rub her clit and within the paradox that was being in a state of relaxation and of being wound up, she was deliberately losing herself to the wonders of human expression. All a normal part of being human, at that. It was like, she was panicking or running away but at the same time, at peace.

" _Hmmm..._." Connie murmured.

Pulses that went through like electricity and Steven was attached to every nerve in her body and thrived in this randomness and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Connie was definitely warming up indeed. She stopped what she was doing and pulled up the shirt off of her and revealing her breasts, and then eventually slipped off her panties too. She sat up a little bit, her back against the wall. Cupping her right breast, her left hand went back to rubbing her clit, but a little bit faster now. Steven felt it harden with the tip of her finger and eventually her fingers went into squishy wet, territory. Her hips began to lift up in short intervals as well, and suddenly the shock of a finger entering inside of her sent Steven somewhere he didn't expect to visit so soon.

"Connie _ahh_..." He gasped.

His words made her giggle again...sometimes it was the suddenness and the surprise was worth seeing and Connie continued to thoroughly enjoy teasing him through these twists and turns. He's likely known humans were able to masturbate but never for the life of him would ever get the chance to experience it naturally. Men and women were different and so Connie definitely looked forward to Steven finding out about male masturbation.

"Like _that?_ " She asked, sweat rolling down her face.

He was silent for the moment, but Connie could already sense his struggle to comprehend, to be able to properly engage with sensibility when there was none. No real words to explain as the fire was lighting up and the lack of control was just the same as getting lost in the darkness...but still reeling in the warmth.

"Yes...yes I do..."

There was heat, there was wetness, there was electricity, there was the softness and hard nipples...there was pain and shaking, heaving breathing like there was a lack of oxygen...Steven felt like she was going to die but at the same time, she had never felt more alive. His soul was literally inside of her right now and like Stevonnie, it was his virtual spirit that was within every cell in her body right now which made her feel heavier somewhat, but that's how she liked it.

Hormones and all that entailed within the human form...that caused this friction to occur with the subsidiary of pleasure as a result. Eventually Connie stopped touching her breast and forced her hand on the mattress as she curled her back and began to quicken her motions. Steven could feel her desperation and the boil from within and that was like it was a ball of fire banging on a door and begging to be let out.

There was so much to take away alongside it, the frustration, the determination and words husky as they poured out from quivering lips and a mind so focused on multiple things that it drove her insane.

"Oh...oh god _Steven_...." She exhaled.

Her pitch and tone; all over the place. Her mind; on him.

"I want you to _fuck_ me so bad...oh _god_...."

Eventually she stopped, but haphazardly and rushed towards a draw and pulled out a pink phallic device. Without hesitation she flipped a switch which made it vibrate, and she sat back down and promptly slotted it in. Steven reeled from how much she willing took it inside of her, her entrance widening for its acceptance and girth. Again, he was shocked from how much harder it was Connie to restrain herself. The push and pull and the weight of it all. How much power could simultaneously destroy and create.

"Connie..." Steven muttered, feeling incoherent himself.

"You're so _hot_..."

The Hacker laughed in between her breaths, surprised he could differentiate...or he's been watching porn of some sort...didn't trouble her in the slightest. 

"Literally....or metaphorically?"

Did he have any room left in his already overloaded RAM to find the difference?

"BOTH...oh _ffffuck_...Conniiiie...." He roared and whined.

Yes... **yes**... _ **yesssss**_....he was _losing_ it just as badly as she was and Connie was totally into him being unable to the true form of his pleasures. Being unable to hold on it and to lose...that was entirely human.

The heightened thrusts and the vibrations were as quick as Connie could possibly manage it; the style of which could have broken the AI...the pressure, the moistness and even the sounds that had Steven's sensors going wild with errors.

"Get...get ready for this...." She said, on the cusp of collapsing and letting it all flow.

She imagined him on top of her, pushing himself in deeply, the dildo; his virtual cock. His form, his radiant pink face and holographic body above her, straining and the moans, groans and pants that were pouring into her head right now...all real as can be. There was so much more with hearing him inside of her and Connie relished in it, beginning to slide down the bed from the intensity and the lack of her own control.

"Yes....oh fuck oh fuck.. _.Steveeeeeeeen_...."

With one last mighty push, Connie's legs shot outwards shook violently as a strike of electricity pulsed through her veins; popping up on her skin as glow pink circuitry as a rounded flashing pulses as she cried out his name and threatened to shut down everything with the overload; the accidental short circuit of crossed and frayed wiring within the buzz and fuzz of it all. Hot and cold no longer mattered. The destruction and creation....the big bang of so many different colours was all that could be compared.

"Con-con-con..."

The intensity of her orgasm had Steven run through incomprehensible feedback loops briefly, a series of more glitches and errors in his HUD alone, messing with Connie's vision as well; her iris's blinking with the magenta shades of his influence. She could practically hear the VI...either his or hers it didn't matter which, call out the heated temperature alerts.

She had to calm herself down, coming back from the high....the sweat returned to her skin as she removed the device from inside of it...and in the total sweaty mess of her senses ignored that it rolled off the bed and onto the floor. Her priorities were...ensuring Steven was still with her.

Her vision went dark briefly as she fell to her side and leaned her head on her arms as she struggled to get her breath back. Her vision eventually returned; a series of numbers and lines popping up. Steven had to reboot.

"You...you right there Biscuit-Boy?" She asked, half assed in effort to converse.

He could hear, see, smell, taste and finally could feel with a few short moments.

"I'm....uh...I'm getting there Berry-Girl." Steven replied...eventually.

Connie laid there with the goofiest grin on her face. She felt the giddiness she hadn't had in years. The optimist with in her had arisen and surfaced briefly and the afterglow itself if that, was a good time to contemplate. Still, the only thing that would have made this better was if he was there next to her as he overwhelming need to cuddle something propped up...so instead she hugged a pillow.

"But yeah...yeah I'm good...I'm good....what about you?"

He was too sweet....and Connie was spoilt. Too spoilt. She felt like she didn't deserve his kindness at times.

"I'm fine. Great." She answered, eyes left screening the light on the wall, back and forth.

She wouldn't deny this satisfied a craving she had been having for a while. Moving forward, there was was an unaddressed uncertainty that would forever linger on the horizon.

"Brr...It's a bit cold." Steven commented, as she felt him shiver.

"Do you mind if..."

Oh yeah...Connie had no qualms...so she agreed and pulled the blanket over her.

"That's better. Thank you..."

She found it doubly amusing that he was mixing her sensations as his own. She checked her VI briefly...to see that the DP definitely endured and cooled down on its on within a few short minutes. An endeavour that rewarded her more with the amount of risk and faith placed into it.

"Nothing was damaged?" Connie asked.

She hoped not.

"Just a bit of...receptor overload. Nothing too worrying." He answered.

"Analysis of my Psyche still intact and functional."

Thank goodness.

"But did you like it at least?" She asked him.

Who in their right mind would have acted on the whims of their carnal instincts? For Connie it was normal. For Steven...the expression on its own must have been too much for him to handle, surely.

"Oh yeah...I did." He replied.

Connie snorted.

"You don't sound so enthusiastic." She said.

He didn't?

"No...I mean, it-it was nice! Really! I mean I've seen sex and stuff but to experience it is a whole new level...I'm not sure how you want me to answer."

She'd have to take his word for it...again...she had to resolve to be patient, irregardless of circumstance.

"That's fine as is." Connie continued.

"But would you do it again?"

A question with a simple enough answer that would satisfy her.

"Absolutely." He said without too much delay.

And the answer definitely did. She was okay with that, tucking herself in and closing her eyes...content with Steven resting in her dreams for the night. And the fact she popped his strawberry....(she knew the correct term...she just wanted to be funny.)

"Good....good...because it won't be our last..." She yawned before falling asleep.

He only hoped it would be with the bike suit or leathers on next time as he those attractive for some reason; his mind elsewhere was he felt her dip into slumber.

And now strawberries...something about strawberries too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AI Lore feat. Medical Intelligence Consultant (MIC) Priyanka:  
>    
> AI (and VI) Avatars are completely dependant on the Domain and its respective digital realms. For the purposes of their storage, AIs are generally kept in Cabinets but that isn't always necessary. They can thrive entirely in the Domain otherwise but doing so risks a lot more when they are destroyed. This also makes them more mobile than GIS who are understood to be entirely dependant on their Cabinets. But we'll get to that shortly.  
> AI's do not have Soulware. BM-AI's are thought to have Soulware but only replications based on brainwaves so its considered that they actually have a subsection dedicated to the functionality of the same type like humans do. More storage, but its not limitless so the theory is that Soulware disappears entirely when a BM-AI is born.  
> AI's are considered easier to flow with their systems, being quicker, more accurate and precise and are designed to help with the both massive and mundane duties of the Domain 24/7 (obviously because they're non-living people without any organic functions.) As a trade off, they can risk being deleted if their Avatars and Psyches are severely damaged beyond repair, especially if they're not running from a Cabinet. 
> 
> Destroying the shells of AIs only displaces them temporarily as long as the Psyche remains. Ones that do not have a functioning Cabinet can end up having their data displaced and scattered and it is up to their psyche to find the Avatar or find/buy a new shell. As long as the Psyche of the AI remains, it will slow recover its missing pieces if it chooses to.  
> However, AI's are more vulnerable to be damaged more so than GIS so much so that their Psyche can be affected just as much. There are pre-programmed safety protocols that allow AI's to eject their Psyches from their shells to go to safety, not too dissimilar to the ways human Avatars functionality protects theirs. However if a shell is completely unusable, then the psyche is left on its own, quite powerless to do anything, as an AI's shell also contains majority of their programming skills. An AI's Psyche however only has its core programming and without Soulware, it becomes a Ghost. It can move around the Domain but it cannot be seen without a Driver that gives it some shape or form outside of its shell. So its entirely dependant on other individuals if it ever hopes to achieve even the most basic functions.
> 
> VIs or Virtual Intelligences aren't as advanced and are not considered sentient. Their purpose is to help process information faster without any bias involved. Humans can have these two and they respond to commands without question. They're used for all sorts of jobs such as logistics and statistics gathered on the fly. They're not capable of learning, however. They're more seen as advanced calculators and sensors and respond for a select amount of inputs, especially regarding emergencies. Their file sizes are small as a result and their programs much cheaper than AIs.


	19. Codesmith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team find an Android.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possibly the most comedic chapter of this fic to date.

Connie had done a lot of research into Alien Tech; wanting to know more about GIS and discovered there was lot more than she realised. Most of the work she had done was mostly centralised within North America, but had delved into the international networks for several of her contacts. For this piece, however, had her attention towards the Asian and Pacific regions.

That market was often hungry for different products; mostly physical as opposed to virtual. Japan for example, was the first to develop the Androids. Her research into the Blue Monolith, however, had a Joint Japanese-Korean Company known as Yin Aozora as their developers and Subsidiary for PeriCom. Their secondary and more well known product were the aforementioned robotic Androids. They used existing AI templates for their framework and mostly focused their efforts on creating both robotic and lifelike androids for multiple purposes.

How Connie found this out was actually through Ronaldo's little brother Peedee (apparently a nickname based on his strange first name, Peter-Daniel), whom had been living in Japans Factory of Yin Aozora as a Board representative from America. He was one of the youngest from the board and Ronaldo had to admit he was jealous of his brothers success and was super intelligent. But the implications of ordering an Android had unfortunate...ties...

Americans were not exactly looking for Androids for bulk and labour en masse, but there was a hidden niche of the Market for more...well, _explicit_ reasons. People who were prepared to purchase (and were generally expensive due to shipping costs and trade taxes). Connie's intel with Androids was low as their relevance was low as well, but from what had been found by Peedee, held enough interest for Connie to quickly educate herself about all types of Androids; models, make, their history, firmware, hardware, software. Everything. The information was there to claim and some Connie would find useful. The Android itself was said to be human developed, but it was well theorised to have some roots in Alien Tech. Either way, this made things much more interesting.

Peedee had shipped over the Android to Ronaldo who had it wired up in the room. Connie and Steven were invited over so they could observe and help him out. Androids were physical AI's as far as what she understood. Mostly Dumb AI that were so close to VI's in their formatting, so to speak. The main differences was the increased amount of protocols, responses and decision making were more advanced than VI's but that was about it.

Having strapped the android onto a machine, Ronaldo was very eager to get it to work. Upon glancing, they could see it aged and weathered and rusted with time. It was grey and bulky and the rainbow wiring on its head made it look like it had colourful dreads. Nothing Ronaldo couldn't handle. He had been working on it all week in checking its circuitry and power source; the latter revealed to be an unusual piece of technology, the battery itself was a pulsing rainbow square, which Ronaldo made the conclusion that it was definitely Alien Tech.

Connie was against the wall, with Steven observing on his CPD and watching Ronaldo put everything back together. He determined in was in pretty good nick, despite how inactive it appeared and the dents and scratches all over the body. The only debate now...was that should they reactivate it?

"Like with Lapis, I've put in the Faraday Protocol to ensure that the Android doesn't interfere; I've deactivated the arms and legs. So we are completely safe!" Ronaldo assured them.

With his pride came the pop of the androids left arm with an apathetic reaction from both the Hacker and the AI. Ronaldo was none the wiser.

"That was intended...ahem."

Placing the arm on the table, Ronaldo cracked his knuckles and was eager to see this work.

"I suppose you've been looking at getting an Android to come on the market cheap...is that it?" Connie questioned, grinning.

Ronaldo rolled his eyes. People in the American Market are judged for their purchases of Androids; the construction too expensive to make there so the reliance on the cheaper alternate of software engineering was heavy. 

"What? No. Look. it's _not_ what it seems. I don't even time a girlfriend.l.."

Connie doubted that and suspected other reasons that she kept to herself. Ronaldo then realised what he was saying before clearing his throat.

"As for this old girl? I've been bugging Peedee to find me one for years. Maybe to have as an assistant perhaps? I've always been one to pioneer the new tech...you know that."

Connie's always known that Ronaldo was a Hipster. She also liked to shit stir him to death for fun. His intentions, she knew for one, were generally noble. A sweet soul underneath it all that was addicted to energy drinks like Connie herself, his fingers for the preference of screwdrivers than the keyboard. Though Connie had to yet to admit the need to corrupt and yet still preserve him in the most innocent fashion.

"Of course." She said, still grinning.

"But you know the stigma from owning Androids outside of Japan. First you give it a name like Major and give her the skimpiest uniform."

Ronaldo went to work on refixing the arm, sighing as he made the readjustments. He liked Connie; but a lot of the time she poked fun at his expense and he normally tanked it, given the opportunity if it arose. She didn't do it a lot, but her assumptions about how he was gonna work this Android to his advantage as such were definitely incorrect.

"Of course I do." He answered.

"But my aim isn't to alter them in anyway detrimental to their original purpose and if they're advanced as I think they are, find out their real personality ya know?"

 _Aaaand_ he was hooked on to her bait. Just like she knew he would.

"Why not?" She asked, nonchalantly and totally casual about it.

"What's stopping you from turning them into a Sex Bot? Give her a new frame and body and voila...you can pay my loan back in quicker time."

Ronaldo rubbed his face as he turned to face her...as a burst of oil sprung her body and splashed onto his face. Connie was trying so hard not to laugh so hard; her mask of stoic and seriousness on the verge of breaking. There was also a market for that kind of thing...and its personality was perfect for it already and it was not even trying.

Standing up and taking a towel to wash his face off, Ronaldo had only realised what Connie was doing and was annoyed at himself for submitting to her whims and had this art of making him look foolish for the umpteenth time.

"I'm kidding of course." She acknowledged before he could say anything. She got her catch of the day.

"But seriously though...I agree, let's activate it. Find out what it knows."

Steven had remained oddly quiet through it all; analysing the inactive robot as it hung there, it's eyes closed like it was only sleeping and wasn't even paying attention to the banter between Connie and Ronaldo. He knew so little about Androids himself, only really understanding what Connie knew. If it was a GIS like they suspected, then he's never heard of that type running machines as opposed to dwelling in the Domain like everyone else.

"If it starts asking for fifty bucks an hour then you already know what we're dealing with." Connie said, for some reason was on a roll and wanted to keep going.

Ronaldo ignored her as he found the switch at the back of her head and listened to the power charge up, a soft thrum followed by clinking gears. It moved and adjusted itself before the eyes opened, revealing her blinking eyes of multiple colours that eventually settled on blank white for now.

"Bismuth-Class Codesmith successfully activated; please input owner details." It said in a monotone.

Looked like it had been completely wiped, Ronaldo didn't want to do a complete reboot either, but he was far from dismayed.

"It's a GIS." Steven said.

"Pearls spoken of Bismuth-Class before."

A GIS in an Android made more sense with that odd power source. Confirmation and the erasure of doubt; but it wasn't a sex bot after all and Connie was suddenly disappointed but didn't show it. She wanted more leverage for laughter later. But it was odd how this was a GIS that had been regressed back to an original state. Asking for owner information was very telling of itself. Like someone had used it and discarded it as it was no longer required and deleted everything to ensure no loose ends.

"Give it a name. We'll need admin access if we want control of it." Connie suggested.

Or she could hack it later, if Ronaldo desired to make her job harder or not. No. He needed his pride protected. Something that would give him respect and admiration from his fellow technological peers and that one day he will be admired by the community for his efforts of changing the world. 

"Lord of the Arsenal!" He said with pride...that one day, he'll have a legion of Android workers and AIs like Steven would be able to venture into the real world.

Connie couldn't believe it. Ronaldo was definitely a weeaboo that she almost died from second hand embarrassment. Steven knew he liked anime but never ventured much into it outside of his highly decorated bedroom.

"Name received. Greetings Lord of the Arse, you may call me Bismuth. I am ready for orders."

Words that sparked not outrage, but something else entirely; First Connie started to shake, her hands making fists. Her lips pursed as her face went red and her eyes squinted. Steven heard odd noises and grew worried about Connie instead of the wide-eyed Ronaldo who only just realised what happened.

"What no? I didn't say that." He cried, trying to find her reset button.

"No, its _Arsenal_ , not _ARSE_!" 

Steven was busy focusing on Connie still and wondered if she was alright.

"Connie?" He asked.

A hand went to her mouth as she began to snort.

"Excuse me for one moment." She said.

He was a bit confused as she ran off outside, where he proceeded to hear Connie wheeze and choke with laughter. He thought she was initially sick, so he tuned his attention to the curse spewing Ronaldo who was muttering to himself about trying to find the reset button. Steven initiated another scan, now that she was active. He rubbed his chin, trying to think about what default GIS were like.

It had the normal GIS extension and nothing about its reading were anything out of the norm for what he's seen from GIS so far. But part of the coding mentioned Generation 1 GIS, like Garnet and Pearl. This Bismuth was an old one, but part her filing suggested she's had multiple patches placed on her over the years, with numerous versions of her being upgraded. Which suggested she was used for something, but what that something was had been unclear. He had to hook her up to her properly to get the deeper layers of her files and so far he could only access her basic properties.

"I wonder why she was cleaned." Steven wondered.

Bismuth had since shut off, her eyes closing as her head fell, with Ronaldo hooking up her cabling to a mini-laptop to check out her coding properly.

"Who knows...the main reason I'd say is that once she fulfilled her purpose, her owner or 'owners' would have tried to wipe her memory banks to make sure they left no trace of their work behind. Which makes me wonder...what was a Codesmith doing in an Android? AI Codesmiths aren't really a thing if I recall correctly and PeriCom directly employ Codesmiths to furbish Domains, Private and Pocket Grids. Think of them as builders and craft-workers."

None of the Ancillas mentioned Codesmiths to Steven. Only Bismuth-Class GIS but not their exact purpose. But if he could place judgement on the knowledge alone, that was most likely their purpose.

"I think Pearl said that they make stuff but she never went into detail." Steven said as he crossed his arms.

Stevens silence was a result of his confusion about it all; the detail of a GIS with nothing left but its core systems functioning. Surely it was used for something but what that was, had been anyone's guess.

"Yeah they're not a regular Quartz-Type for example." Ronaldo continued.

"My guess is that they installed the GIS into the android because there's every chance they were making something super secret."

That piqued Steven's interest.

"Secret huh?" He said.

It was then Connie came back in...and Ronaldo grumbled and rolled his eyes as he waved his hand in front of his nose.

"For goodness sake Connie spray yourself, you smell like ash!" He complained.

She had been smoking obviously.

"Rude Fryboy." She said, displeased.

"I never tell you that you stink."

He blinked for a moment, as Connie brought out her strawberry perfume and sprayed herself, but not before Ronaldo smelt his own armpits and whinced a teeny bit. Connie eventually got a piece of gum out of her bag and began to chew.

"So what ya got?"

Ronaldo continued to type.

"The data concludes this is a Gen 1 GIS, Bismuth-Class that's been through numerous versions and updates throughout the years."

Confirming Steven's scans.

"Girls been through a lot based on her external state; internally the data has been erased as we all know...so we might have trouble digging through it troves."

Words that had Connie snort.

"Fryboy please." She said, her ego inflating on its own accord.

"Wiped hard drives can be restored if you have the know how."

Steven blinked.

"How do you know then?" He asked.

Connie groaned.

"I just do okay?" She said, almost exasperated, before clearing her throat and returning to her confident state.

"The amount of times people try to hide stuff by simply deleting their content is way too often. It does serve a goal however the must studious and resilient of us have the tools to get what we need. So...Fryboy, I need access to this androids memory banks and I'll work my magic!"

And she says with wiggly fingers to boot. Ronaldo groaned in response.

"Look, there is a separate hard drive found but it's never been used." He said.

"The Battery itself I found to be the main source."

A battery used to hold data? That sure wasn't safe at all. Then again, Alien Tech being as it was...

"Then give me the battery then. I'll take a crack at it." Connie said, her hand out to him.

Fryboy bit his lip.

"And risk its programming to hack into your own Work Station? This is dangerous, even for you." He warned.

Connie wasn't afraid of dealing with junk like this. Even if it was Alien Tech.

"I have a small Faraday Box I shove it inside of." Connie assured him.

"I'm not that careless."

Still, Ronaldo didn't think it was a good idea...but he ended up taking the battery out of the Android and put into a small metal box anyway and handed it to her.

"Even if you make fun of me, I know what you're capable of. I just sure hope you know what you're doing."

* * *

Back at her apartment, Connie snapped on black rubber gloves and grabbed a small black box from her cupboard and put it on the desk next to the CPD Stand. Steven watched everything as Connie pulled the battery outside of one box and put into the other. The boxs purpose was meant for Connie to easily hook it into her tower and it holds a special protocol, much Ronaldo's set up, to prevent it from uploading or hacking into Connie's Station. He'd never seen her so giddy before.

"Tell me, do GIS have these weird battery things normally?" Connie asked him as she sat down and went to her, her fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard as she booted everything up.

"Not that I'm aware of." Steven replied.

"I mean, consensus happens to create them but what else does I'm not even sure."

Something they would have to ask the Ancillas, surely. Connie was just excited she gets to hack a GIS of all things. The things PeriCom would never want anyone outside of their own employees to see.

"They have those Cabinets though." Connie continued.

"Lapis had one, but I imagine since she was a satellite GIS, her functionally required her to work on several interconnected grids, public and private. The information load must be immense to pass through."

Steven didn't even know there were satellite GIS prior to meeting Lapis...he was under the impression all of them should have been AI...but a GIS made sense due to their durability over normal AIs.

"Though it begs the question; GIS don't have a normal IP address that's picked up on most systems. Too obscure and advanced for proper tracing. I'll message uh...my mom to see what she makes of it."

Even living with GIS, Steven never had all the answers given to him. Before Connie was finished, she'd taken a few photos and messaged the MIC for any clues on the subject before resuming with the connections.

"AI's live and thrive on the Domain don't they?" 

They did. It was a weird premise.

"Yeah." He answered, still watching Connie's fingers work their magic and his mind went on how talented they could be. Ronaldo's earlier comparison was on the mark.

"I mean we don't have to a specific IP or system to store our data. We work on cloud-transfer interface where we don't have to exist on the one hard drive. We just have to make sure all of us makes it from one end to the other or else...just sort of teleportsus on the fly, ya know."

That's right. Connie understood that to be one of the benefits that while there were mandatory requirements when talking about AI Storage, they didn't have to exist and retrieve their data from one place. They were more described as Digital Spectres seemingly able to go to place to place without issue. Though this was easier for them to navigate their way around, it didn't come without its host of different problems.

"Yeah, but the main problem is when it all goes to hell when your Avatar is destroyed." Connie told him.

"Mom says the shell is gone but the entirety of your Psyche is left trying to pick up pieces...you can also risk being deleted depending the severity of the damage."

Which was one thing Steven downright feared. He could fight but when push comes to shove and he's in the corner; he's on his own. Getting captured by Jasper had Steven terrified of dying too soon.

"She's not wrong." Steven said, a bit worried himself.

"It's the reason why the Ancillas are super protective of me. I die...then..."

Connie paused as she finished making the connections, her eyes on Steven as he fell into the shadows of his melancholy...again. He was always such a downer at times.

"I will reconstitute you." Connie declared, wholeheartedly. She went to work on the restoration of the Bismuth's wiped drives, rapidly typing as she used multiple programs for the process...the series of codes and screens and windows with rapidly changing text that Steven himself had subroutines take care of that of which he wanted to translate, but it never always meant that he understood what was going on unless told.

"I could save a copy of your basic Avatar into my Soulware for safe keeping, all the while trying to find the fragments of your psyche scattered through the far reaches of the Domain if it means you exist."

Words that sent strokes of conflicting emotional codes go out of the load order and almost shut him down.

"Connie..." A single name that he could get his vocoder to emulate. She was so focused in her work, the face of determination so close. This was her. The one whom had saved him from the brutality of the Jasper GIS and all those that followed. The Berrybyte on the lips of those who would sing her praises as well as damn them. A hero and a villain, all the same.

She'd had to get a coffee in the mean time as this took her hours to rectify, all the while Steven felt guilty for not helping. The Faraday Box, that black metallic cube that Steven could sense the batteries power from. What had she seen and done...what was her purpose?

Hours later, Connie heaved a massive sigh as she leaned back in her chest and lifted her chin, relieved that she was just about finished...and several cups of coffee on the table surrounded by empty packets of potato chips. She swatted them off the desk and dusted the crumbs off her chest as she cleared her throat. Her eyes went to Steven as she smirked and went to press a key, but he was still bit uncomfortable about it.

"Wait!" He called.

Connie rolled her eyes.

"Yes?" She said, exasperated.

No. She had to do this the proper way.

"I don't think it's right to gain access to the Bismuths details without her consent." Steven warned her.

She raised an eyebrow.

"She's bare bones Steven." Connie explained, as she rubbed her forehead in minor frustration.

"Her memory banks are still fucked; they weren't interconnected with the most used matrices for decision making. Even if she was to give consent, she won't remember any of this manually."

Steven didn't care. Bismuth was still functioning...just not in the way they were used to. He made a sad face; indicating that he was about to cry. She couldn't say no to that.

"For fucks sake; fine." She replied in a drone.

"Lets boot her up."

Steven smiled warmly; knowing how important this was to not just Bismuth but AI's and GIS in general. He continued to stand and examine Connie as she pulling out a second CPD out of her desk drawer and quickly hooking it up to the box within just a few minutes.

"She'll get her body back." Connie continued, thinking about that giant monstrosity back in Ronaldo's quarters.

"Right now she'll run on safe mode so don't be surprised if she doesn't show a great deal of emotion."

Did GIS even have a safe mode? Connie would imagine that they would for a variety of reasons; debugging for one. She put in the last bit of adjustments with her Work Station and pressed a single key.

Out from the CPD, coloured pixel, by coloured pixel, was a large hologram...with the squarish Rainbow Kernel Core on her chest and her hair matching with the androids design. She formed a t-pose first, before resting them by her sides. Opening her eyes, she looked up at Connie with a blank expression.

"GIS Underlay Itinerary activated." Bismuth announced, her voice monotone.

"BMTH_250_KC1. GIS active. Please input request for more details."

He's never seen a GIS lacking in life before, hearing more emotion in ordinary VIs.

"See?" Connie pointed out.

"She's nothing at this point. She doesn't react to environmental factors; only user input requests."

The AI frowned, fearing that this Bismuth was a former shell of her old self. If only she could be restored somehow.

"I was hoping to be able to ask her a few things..." Steven said.

Connie found Steven's appetite for knowledge endearing to where she couldn't help but smile. He had the right idea; as Connie had judged much of his personality had to have been a hold over from his mysterious donor.

"Likewise." Connie acknowledged.

"But if it makes you happy. Grant Admin status to CM_888_V1GS_. SolEX ..."

And if he was going to manage it too.

"Grant Owner Status to RF_890_V1GS. SolEX."

Ronaldo was the true owner after all. The main difference between them was Connie was able to access Root Source Codes, but Ronaldo would be able to own her.

"Approved." Bismuth replied.

"Please input new request, alternatively, input shut down to exit program."

Connie was about to shut her down, until Steven decided to intervene.

"Request permission to access data." He asked.

Connie blinked. She believed they just did that.

"Steven that's..."

"Data already accessible by User Admin." Bismuth responded.

"User Admin has permissions to retrieve, alter and insert data. Please consult User Admin for more information."

Connie could see the confusion on his face. He definitely was more human than AI.

"See Steven.." She said.

"There's nothing more we need."

He would have liked a direct yes or no. It broke his heart to see this happen...she was really...just a program then. No...not she wasn't. Steven refused to see her this way.

"I don't like it how she does that." He told Connie.

"I mean...she...."

It was something so abstract to him after spending a great deal of time with the more personable Ancillas who could be aloof, but they definitely had their own autonomy and organic bounce to their steps that made them seem like the realest people he knew. This was as lifeless as a remote control. There was more fear than sadness, Connie had become to believe. Losing who he was perhaps one of the greatest he held on his persons. Truth be told, Connie never thought about it like that. This wasn't permanent either; this was just a temporary measure, like Lapis, to ensure that this GIS didn't go out of control. 

"If we can trust her then its entirely possible to reboot her to her normal state." Connie told him. She hated seeing him so unhappy.

"We'll need to get her back into the Android eventually, but I want to be confident that this Bismuth isn't going to go haywire."

Only one real way to find out.

"Let's talk to her properly then." He said.

"Isn't there a way you can reroute that trove to her frontal matrices so she does remember?"

They would be horribly incomplete, to Connie's immediate concern. Still, this was a GIS. They were made of sterner stuff than most.

"I can try...but she's going to be glitchy." Connie warned.

"Give me a sec."

Going back to her computer, Connie spent the next several minutes trying to make a particular patch...which would have explained why there were so many patches in her files already; which meant she'd been wiped more than once.

So what was she used for, really?

"Okay, initiating reboot now."

Bismuth shut down immediately after that...but shortly her Avatar reformed and she had a bit more life in the hologram. She appeared to be a daze and whacked her head several times with a series of grunts. Connie had to be prepared for an emergency shut down if she tried anything funny.

"Bismuth?" Steven said.

The GIS tilted her head.

"Woah...who..." She muttered, before looking at Connie.

"Oh. User Connie..."

Connie already felt awkward enough from doing all of this. More casual wasn't a bad thing but this...

"Just call me Connie." Berrybyte told her, pressing her hand to her chest then gesturing towards Steven.

"This is my AI Companion Steven. We were hoping you answer some questions for us."

The GIS shivered as she looked around, as if she was cold.

"I feel lighter...." She said, eyes squinting.

"I don't like that...I feel so _vulnerable._ "

A preference for something...her personality syntax was still functioning at least.

"You were previously functioning in an Android." Connie told her.

And education from observing Steven alone told her ample amounts of things that he did and didn't like through double jacking. Bismuth must have had a nervous system inbuilt into the android for self-preservation instinct protocols to kick in. But this was so much more. Connie had her doubts but....

"Oh yeah...I'm uh...where is my armor?" Bismuth demanded to know.

"I need to...I need to...I need to."

Feedback loops. Lucky Connie still had her hooked up so she open up Bismuths runtime, using her programs to pinpoint the problem.

"Connie?" Steven said, fearful.

Connie nodded and hummed, looking at the blinking red line of alien tech code. The program she used was based off of existing PeriCom code, inventing her own version for research and trouble shooting.

"I knew this would happen." She said, disappointed.

"I said it was going to be buggy."

Steven furrowed his brows.

"You said it was going to be glitchy." He said...until her hologram started freaking out.

"Oh there it is."

He was right...glitching and bugging were two different things with a similar wavelength in relevance but that wasn't what she was getting at. She was forced to shut the Bismuth down and find an alternate solution.

"The Codesmith requires a Codesmith." Connie said, noting the ironic situation. She pressed the base of her palms on her eyes and made a loud, irritated groan.

"I'm not that particular in mass amounts of GIS Code. I mean, I understand sample amounts of their OS but something of this calibre is next to impossible."

Sample being base systems...not entire GIS.

"We could always ask the Ancillas." Steven put forth.

Hm....that wasn't a half-baked idea either. She removed her hands. Though other issues arose.

"That would require hooking up the Bismuth to the Domain properly." Connie told him.

"I can't use the Faraday Box to do that. And I don't want her prematurely hopping onto it...unless the Ancillas...hmmm..."

Steven loved it when Connie would think up ideas. She was always so creative.

"Did you want me to go ask them?" Steven offered.

Possibly...but the more Connie put thought into, more and more concerns arose.

"I need them to consent to be put into a Private Grid." She said. Ronaldo said something before about their ability to also bypass Grid protections. So getting them in there safely wasn't anything to be worried about.

"Or maybe just one of them. Any GIS you think would have the best amount of knowledge regarding their software?"

A statement that had Steven thinking long and hard. Amethyst maybe? But she was limited with in-house detail. Garnet perhaps...though she was an Analyst for observing future probabilities....so that only left.

"Ummm...." He murmured.

"I'd say Pearl. She is a Cloud-Storage GIS. If there's anyone who most likely know even though I'm not a hundred percent sure, it's her!"

It's a start. The start of something...Connie only but look at the time. 11:14 and she had a doctors appointment in the morning she'd almost forgotten about.

"Hm...we'll leave it for tomorrow." Connie said with a yawn.

"We'll let Bismuth rest for now and we'll suss out the detail. But message Pearl while I'm asleep and try to fit her in about...say 3 O'Clock?"

* * *

Connie had since taken her medication and changed into her pajamas and allowed herself to plop on her bed and rest, accompinied by her massive snoring. Steven on the other hand, dipped back into the Domain and chatted with Pearl in the lounge area and informed her with what they were doing.

"A...A Bismuth-Class GIS you say?" Pearl said, surprised.

"My, I haven't seen one of those in...gosh, many a cycle."

Steven figured she would know of them.

"Well, what's she doing? Where does she come from?"

He explained the details of her Android being shipped over from Japan, to where, to Steven's slight perplexed matrices did bug out upon her knowledge of what imported Androids insinuated.

"But yeah, that's why we need someone who can help us repair her. Connie's recovered data but we're trying to get Bismuth to tell us the info." He told her.

Pearl herself tried to process it just as much as well. She smiled and looked off into the distance....then frowned as she refocused herself.

"Hmm...I'm not a Codesmith myself but..." She said.

"But if Connie's willing, I can help her translate the code...I happen to have a very good translating program installed. All Pearl-Class GIS have it as a mandatory application."'

Good. Some progress.

"But tell me Steven...what do you hope to find?"

He wasn't really sure. This was just a little project of theirs to see what Bismuth knew...where she had been and why she was in an Android.

"I don't know." Steven answered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ronaldo's brother found her and he was hoping to have more....and Connie took the challenge of reconstituting the data with her to get what had been wiped out."

Pearl blinked, then her eyes went wide, as sweat rolled down her face.

"Reconstituting?" She repeated, then laughed nervously.

"Only a human so stubborn like Connie would want to restore lost data. Brokers go crazy for stuff like that....but the effort behind it is immense indeed....and if Connie had done so to a GIS."

Feeling so strongly about it himself, Steven just knew that if Connie and Pearl worked together, they would definitely be able to figure it out.

"So you'll help?" He asked with a grin.

The GIS pursed her lips brief, pausing before she gave him a definite answer.

"Oo-of course." She answered, pressing the tips of her fingers together. She suddenly stood up and became oddly pumped for this task.

"We have no time to waste!"

Steven shook his head and grabbed her hand to get her to stop from being too overexcited.

"Connie said around 3. She's asleep right now." He said sheepishly.

With that, Pearl became disappointed and limp.

"Oh...what is it with humans and their 8 hour shut downs? I suppose it's the least troubling thing I find about humans in general."

From what Steven had observed, Pearl made the occasional voice of displeasure with organics and their habits. Steven's had to intervene on matters where humans were involved and Pearls solutions to a particular problem or too didn't account for collateral, such as deleting sections of the Domain that still had humans inside.

"Connie worked hard today. She deserves her rest." Steven told her.

Pearl slapped her face with her palm.

"Oh right. I forgot the pair of you were in some kind of beneficial relationship." She said with obvious disapproval.

"Humans have their organic needs....wait..."

Oh he knew. He definitely knew. The following horrified gasp was the inevitable kicker.

"Were you...were you hoping to use the Android to.. _.conduct coitus with Connie???_ "

The AI froze instantly with the sheer amount of embarrassment that sent shot through his Avatar and caused it to glitch, his cheeks glowing pink.

"I uh...I uh...no no...I mean...it's pure research!" He stammered. It was, it definitely was but...

But it was too late. Pearl was stuck in her idea instead of his explanation.

"Oh good grief Steven I know you're obsessed with humans over all..."

It was then a hand went onto her shoulder. It was Garnet.

"Relax Pearl, let me handle this..."

Oh no...Pearl disappeared in a huff but that just made Garnet sit next to him and follow on with Pearls conversation in her place...and she still got it all wrong that Steven's emotional cortex had a hard time getting a hold of the miscommunication here. She put her arm around him and dove into her usual spiels.

He didn't think he told Connie about Garnets obsession with couples.

"Listen, if you wish to aim to get physical with Connie...do so in Physics Enhanced Experimental Pod before you use the Android." She suggested.

A face that was about to give up on all hope in rectifying a simple misunderstanding included a half open mouth and a eyes of utter despair.

"G-"

She disturbed his talk with a smile as she shook his shoulders.

"I'm so proud of you bridging the gaps between our kind and humanity. But this I think will work extremely well for the both of you." She continued, patting his back.

Why was he still trying at this point.

"I'm off now. Duty calls. Think about what I said. Connie knows more about the subject...you just need to continue pushing her in the right direction."

And even before Steven could open his mouth again, Garnet warped away. Sighing in defeat, Steven's face fell into his hands in irritation...until Garnet returned back all of a sudden.

"Oh and Pearl will be there for you tomorrow. 3PM sharp." She said, then warped again.

Well there was that to look forward to, at least.

* * *

Now his mind began to fixate on the idea of the Pod and where he would be able to locate one. If what Connie had demonstrated before was the beginning, then maybe this was indeed the next best thing in their relationship.

Heading back to the apartment, he could see Connie splayed on the bed, stomach down and her limbs everywhere, face on the pillow with drool on the pillow...

But Steven began to question the strong emotions that had only begun to get stronger as the weeks went on....and the source was the dorky one snoring in front of him.

He then not so subtly tried to find the perfect place to perform such acts; if the desire had ever arisen in the nearest future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AI Lore feat. Medical Intelligence Consultant (MIC) Priyanka:
> 
> Today we're going to talk about GIS and their Avatars.  
> GIS; or Gem Intelligence Systems, are still a mystery to this day. Alien versions of AIs that are tremendously more advanced than humans had ever had to create and finding out their secrets is generally something kept to people like PeriCom, who generally have all jurisdiction on GIS in general. Their formation is unique; Consensus with one or more Monoliths to craft up a singular powerful intelligence. It's said that one GIS is as strong as 10 AIs working together. Not enough information on that but rumor is all we have to go on.  
> What is known is that they are required to have some kind of Battery mixed with their Hard Drive. I've heard them been called phylacteries (after lich mythos)  
> which kind of makes sense. Most GIS are discovered by PeriCom or those who are not are highly sort after, will pay a handsome price for any donation.
> 
> The Phylacteries are said to be products made by the Monoliths; the overseers of the Domain who will deem it necessary to produce a GIS to help with the functionality with the Domain as well as protect it. IE. Each serves a specific purpose. 
> 
> Connie has sent me some documents and images regarding one of these Phylacteries and if I'm correct in my theory, as long as these exist in the real world, a GIS's Avatar can reform within a certain period of time. The destruction of the Phylacteries means the permadeath of these GIS.


	20. Physics Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie go to a rave for their anniversary.

Steven was the one to propose it. Connie was the one suggest Club Sour Cream, thriving in the rave environment. Though she hadn't gone back there since the incident with that Empire Asshole. But this was a date. A date to remember. It was their what, four month anniversary?

The feeling that was more commonly unexplored was the one Steven was the most eager to discover. What Connie had shown him and had him experience was out of this world. So he had taken all the precautions and applications necessary for this to work as well as it was required to. Amethyst told him to be himself; as did Garnet and Pearl, as always, urged caution.

Connie reminded him about the Virtual Dancefloors; as Club Sour Cream was indeed one of the most well known Clubs that allowed for both reality and the Domain to co-exist. Idealistically; the true future and their VR system was still one of the best developed, their VR Pods, still quite renowned to the day. One would normally use the default settings and environments, but Steven himself purchased a custom made one just for him and Connie to utilise. They were allowed, as long as they met system requirements. He was brought on by inspiration; a rare trait found in any virtual creature, GIS or AI.

That afternoon before the date, Steven had been travelling from App-Developer to App-Developer for advice, shell modifications and the like, wearing a mostly black hoodie with pink glowing cyberlines and jeans. For advice. For something meaningful.

Incidentally, he'd found himself in an Online Music Store. It was mostly hues of green with many avatars with headsets on in long stretched open pathed hallways; a lot of them were for previewing and purchasing. It reminded and hurt Steven that he never once performed for her, but one day he will. For some reason, he found himself waiting for the right moment. Holograms floated everywhere showing off random music videos and soundbars and the like. Welcoming to those who wanted to find some tunes to suit their needs. The outer walls demonstrating a birds eye view animation of the ocean.

He'd be listening to the kind of songs; as suggested by Amethyst, to be good 'mood' music, what ever that meant. He didn't understand it at all...and found himself in the belief that he'd leave that to Connie. Taking off the gargantuan headphones and setting them up on the rack, he sighed, putting his hands into his pockets and preparing to leave the store. The disappointment on his face as he held his head low; he just wanted to go right by her and the potential for screwing everything up was in the high percentile. Steven wanted to improve his chances of getting closer to Connie, like any other date. But this was big, especially for Steven.

The slowest pace and the inattention drawn to his spacial awareness had Steven bump into a tall man.

"Oh sorry!" He said to him.

The man himself looked familiar. Tall, skinny with orange pants and a blue hoodie, with blonde hair. For some reason he looked incredibly familiar.

"Don't sweat it dude." He said, voice deep and soothing. Out of his own curiosity, he leaned forward then squinted towards Steven's screen.

"Listening to Serial Experiments by Iwakura huh? You have interesting taste."

Steven blinked, as he turned to the man.

"Oh that? I was just...uhh, trying to find some good music for um...."

Owner? Girlfriend? She didn't object to him user the word, but given the climate of AI and human relationships overall, Steven still was uncertain of how to approach that in conversation with complete strangers; or risking Connie herself getting alienated.

"Your partner?" The man asked.

Steven nodded...a very proud partner.

"Y-yeah." He said.

"I'm not entirely sure what to look for truthfully."

Connie liked a lot of things, but she also disliked a lot. She was very picky with her music and more times than not you could it wrong. The man rubbed his chin.

"You're on the right track..." He said.

"Having a home party? I can make a playlist for you."

That would help, yeah.

"Her and I are going out tonight." Steven told him, his face blushing pink.

"I wanted it to be special, ya know."

The man grinned.

"Ohhhh I see how it is." He acknowledged with the hint of sly.

"Anniversary or?"

Was it that obvious?

"Y-yeah." Steven replied.

"I-I mean, like, she's such a busy person so I want to reward her with all her hard work."

And all the work they did together was more than what Steven could ever ask for.

"Aren't you the romantic one?" The man said. He then pulled something out of his pocket. A business card with some kind of ancient, rectangular beige hand hold console. On i...

"You're DJ Sour Cream?" Steven said with shock, his eyes as wide as monitors.

The man did a finger gun, clicked his tongue and winked.

"The one and only, man."

He couldn't believe...Steven went starry eye and started gushing, dancing on one spot and waving his hands about as he couldn't control his inner fanboy programming.

"Oh gosh..yeah we're actually heading to your club this weekend." He informed the famous musician.

What perfect timing to bump into a celebrity!

"Oh you are? Great!" Sour Cream said with a smile.

"Look, leave it to me....you planning on the physical or virtual dancefloor?"

Steven pursed his lips; he wasn't sure if Sour Cream would judge him on the obvious answer.

"Virtual." He answered.

Sour Cream nodded.

"Ah good to know." He said.

"I have an AI I use to man either one...so I can jump from physical to virtual when ever I want. It's not as good as the real one but it does its job."

Super psyched, Steven couldn't believe how nice Sour Cream really was in all of this; where Steven was at his most blanked on ideas.

"But I'll take of things. Just get on over this weekend and I'll make somethin' the both of you will never forget!"

* * *

Steven couldn't even wait. But he was surprised on how fast the next few days had went and suddenly it was Saturday. He stood in front of his mirror in his room as he filtered through his Avatars different skins. The clothing he still had a hard time trying to sort out; Amethyst ended up helping him out; wearing a sleeveless hoodie to show off his "handsome human like biceps." with the zip on the left hand side, with a pulsating pink line of light rising up alongside it. The rest was black, save for the the slight grey in the middle. He wore light pink jeans alongside it and Amethyst had him wearing star earring on right ear...and black boots to match with it all.

"Now you're looking for a good time." Amethyst complimented with a thumbs up.

"Just...act natural okay?"

Steven rolled his eyes as he tightened his fingerless gloves.

"Amethyst, I _always_ act natural with Connie." He said. By acting natural, he hoped she meant, like a human of course.

"We've been dating for a while now and half the stuff she does, hardly surprises me anymore."

Amethyst chuckled, slapping his back. She's the only one within the Ancillas who's had any notable experience with humans.

"I dunno...I feel like shes got other stuff up her sleeve. Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge." Amethyst said with a literal wink.

Steven didn't think she would have anything else that her arms through them, but he digressed. 

He heard a ding go off, as he checked his messages. Ronaldo was busy asking if he was ready.

"Alright, I guess this is good as it will ever be." Steven said, nerves eating at him all of a sudden. Is this was what anxiety was like? How did humans even cope?

"You'll be fine Stevo." Amethyst encouraged.

"Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Pausing to reflect, that wasn't a lot Amethyst wouldn't do...she could be a menace because she felt the need to; the rebellious bug in her programming that would pop up on its own accord, due to her faulty runtimes.

* * *

He'd hitched a ride with Ronaldo; since Connie had been busy working all day and agreed that she'd meet up with Steven at Club Sour Cream that night. It was around 8 O'Clock when Ronaldo arrived; wearing his sleeveless yellow jacket open with a black zip from popped collar to the bottom, white glistening top underneath with the yellow bandanna around his neck and black denim and black fingerless gloves and orange visor. Entering inside, one could see the pulsing neon trails of green and yellow as they lead you to the main dance floor. The music already thumping loud and the bass felt underneath your feet. Even so, it was the kind of calmer EDM as opposed to the intense variation. The party hadn't even started.

Steven had been double jacking with Ronaldo as he entered; just planning to be there as Steven's uh...chaperone of sorts. 

Relationships between AI's and humans weren't exactly the most open forum topic. But at this point, where the secrecy had to be played in the real world, Ronaldo would be Steven's mouth peace; speaking and taking control as part of a software upgrade. The man was more than happy to consent to the use of his body, as long as they didn't try anything funny. The bar itself was already full of people and so he shoved his way through the crowd, trying to see if he could find Connie. She hadn't arrived as yet, but managed to find a stool at the bar, where the one and only Buck Dewey; one of Ronaldo's long time friends, was serving drinks...his visor was more silvery, but it had its own VI that kept tabs on people...and their actual tabs.

"Ronaldo my man, what brings you to this fine establishment?" Asked Buck as he cleaned a glass.

"Just uh...here for uhh a friend." Ronaldo asked as he adjusted his visor.

Buck nodded.

"I told you, SC doesn't like you doing deals here no more. Cracks his style." Buck warned.

Ronaldo shook his head.

"No no it's not that....you remember my friend-"

It was then something, or someone caught his eyes. A tall dark skinned woman, her hair done up so nice, black curling hair raised to his shoulders, pinned up with a large, pointy blue ribbon from black that faded to a nice electric blue on the way down. Dark blue mascara and silver strawberry unmistakable, this time with matching silver strawberry shaped earrings that actually looked more like hearts.

"Uh...run authorisation code Biscuit-Boy-Alpha-Scheme." Ronaldo said.

"Just don't forget to log out when you're ready to disconnect...and remember, use your funky flow; no funky stuff.''

Ronaldo removed his visor and placed it into his pocket, then closed his eyes briefly; his eyes shifting underneath the lids with rapid movement. A few seconds later, his eyes were pulsing pink several times, the CD spin like loop animation taking place as Steven took control. His eyes refocused on the room again, scanning the woman he had previously been focusing on.

Her dress was something he'd never seen before...she _never_ wore dresses, as far as what Steven could recall. It was mostly a navy blue, asymmetrical in design. Pointy Shoulder pad on the right hand side and the dress itself was cut on the left, curving from her thighs...something about her thighs that had Steven memorised and his heart racing. He didn't notice Buck pouring him a drink other than in his peripheral vision; Ronaldo's favourite; known as a _djinn_...alcohol with a bit of spice.

There was a light blue cyberline that went from the shoulder pad, across the v collar dip to her inner breast that went across her stomach, to the cut curve in the dress, all the way down. And...white heels? She never wore heels. Steven instinctively down the drink, unaware of its contents and almost choked. He forget he didn't like ginger.

Connie spotted him from across the room; her blue upper lip and lower lip with the line in the middle that curved into a flirtatious smile...and those two cyan eye jewels she always wore definitely stood out. She strode on over, holding her large dark blue purse with silver trimming as she sat next to Steven, who could only but gulp.

"You look uh....." He stammered, looking at her up and down. Connie couldn't help but chuckle.

"Thank you Steven." Connie said, knowing that he was too lost for words, but understanding him anyway. She wasn't disturbed in the slightest that he was using Ronaldo's body; only thankful that he was the only one in their lives willing to make their relationship work in the real world. But those spinning lights in his eyes, had Connie see Steven without a doubt, as well as his body language and mannerisms more than she did see Ronaldo.

"I don't want you short-circuiting this early in the night."

No...no he didn't.

"You don't make it easy." Steven commented, rubbing his neck, which was awfully sweaty.

Connie rolled her eyes and had Buck make her what she called a Revenant, a drink meant to give you the shivers.

"It certainly wasn't for me either." She complained.

"I mean, fuck heels. Seriously. You tell me to be extra fancy and look, I dragged myself here in high heels...high heels Steven!"

She liked to flaunt her femininity, but normally in short shorts and tops and jackets that would normally show off her midriff; she calls it post-modern punk. But this, her in this get up, was like, a mature slice of feminine, if Steven could make a proper comparison.

"I never said make yourself uncomfortable." He commented.

"All I said, dress yourself like we're meeting royalty or something."

Connie watched as Buck brought her drink; a deep, glowing and sparkling swirl of blue that she took a single sip, which it did indeed give her the shivers as the chill ran down her spine.

"Ahhh it's always that first sip that gets you...but it's so good." She commented.

"You know....I know you don't like beer or the energy drinks Ronaldo and I normally have. But when you have mixed drinks like this, you want to think, what other things in life can be mixed together so perfectly, that they make you feel a certain way."

Blinking, Steven was indeed thinking that such. He could taste and smell and experience all sorts of things. But he's never been here to have anything different and make his own opinion. 

"I wouldn't really know." Steven commented, tapping his fingers on the bar.

Connie raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure about that?" She questioned.

Steven looked left and right.

"Yes?"

Connie face-palmed.

"What about Double-Jacking? Isn't that what you consider a good mix?"

Oh. That's what she meant.

"I thought we were still talking about drinks." He said.

Connie sighed. She kept forgetting he could be so literal.

The two continued to talk, as Connie had a few drinks and had Steven try a few himself. They then went on to talk about Bismuth and Pearls translations of her code; though Pearl had told them she might need a while, since there were troves of data to go through so Connie and Ronaldo had given her a copy of all the data in Bismuth that they could use and she would get back to them when she found something worth looking into. Pearl kept giving Ronaldo the stink eye; her perception of what Ronaldo had planned with the Android unwavering until she demanded Connie give her his Domain search history. Connie found it amusing to say the least, and yes while he did research Androids for sale, none of it was actually for any kind of purpose other than for 'research'. Pearl didn't even dive that deeply into the history beyond his prolific searches and resumed her stance on her belief on his feelings regarding Androids...and had begun to assume that he was also after other virtual beings like GIS and had since kept her distance.

"What was it that Pearl said, "Humans and their insatiable appetite because they cant hope to, as the humans say, get some with an organic partner?' oh man I wanted to laugh so hard until I got a stitch." Connie said, snorting.

She had a fair bit to drink as she slapped Steven's knee. Seeing her laugh like this brought such a warmth to Steven's chest; either that or it was the Mare drink he was having; which was said to be cold, however.

"Ronaldo got so offended too." Steven acknowledged with a faint smile.

"Poor guy, we should probably do something for him too."

Connie shrugged.

" _Yeahhh_....he still owes me money." She commented.

"I'll wait till he's debt free."

Steven had almost forgotten about that. The music suddenly changed from low-key electronica to something more fast paced...and Connie inserted a smile, something wicked but something inviting at the same time; a hand grabbed his without warning and pulled him onto the rainbow squared dance floor, flickering lights of neon were on the higher floors above them, circling high in the rhythm to the music. He didn't even notice there were other floors to this place until now...and on the floor above their own, was DJ Sour Cream in his booth, getting into the funky groove. Connie herself had sunk herself and Steven deep into the crowd and despite the loud music, he could have sworn he heard her call to him, saying that she loved this song.

The quick flicker of lights gave small gaps of time, snapshots of patrons dancing like crazy; it had Steven feel anxious, but he felt Connie's hands on his, staring at him as her glowing blue contacts had her stand out from everyone else. Her hair whisked about and the lights on her dress had shown him how she swayed her hips.

Steven tried to grip into some kind of dance mode. He could dance; downloading and watching and observing others. But there was something that was giving him discomfort about it all...the fact that he was too exhausted after a while...and as the song began to slow down and the lights stopped flickering, he was suddenly met with Connie's arms wrapping around his neck that sent shivers down his spine; the feeling she felt from downing that Revenant, chasing him down that field of paranoia. She got his hands and wrapped them around her waist, feeling it move as she rocking her hips from side to side. His eyes widened, with sweat dropping down his face. She drew her face closer to his, causing his heart to beat faster.

Ever since he kissed her that day he upgraded her Soulware, it felt... _so right._ She's kissed him on the cheeks since they started their relationship, but right now, he was drawn to her lips once again. Eyes half-lidded as he got himself closer, tilting his head slightly in sync with her, then he suddenly realised.

"Wait..." He said, forcibly disconnected.

Connie furrowed her brows.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

Steven put his hand to his forehead, shaking it as he walked off the dance floor, with Connie following suit, worried. He ran off until he got to corner void of people, scrunching his eyes like he was in pain. Connie caught up to him and tried to get him to look at her.

"Steven hey, hey, what's the matter?" She asked, putting her hand his shoulder.

Steven sighed...he had to let her know.

"I'm not meant to be kissing you..." He said.

Connie was unsure what he meant.

"You're not?" She said, not letting the disappointment get to her.

She didn't know.

"Ronaldo said so." He said.

_Oh..._

"Ah I understand." Connie said with a nod. She saw Steven before she even saw Ronaldo but as he pointed it out, she was blinded by it, but she giggled at the thought of kissing the tall blonde technician...like most men she's kissed, she would be indifferent since the only real reason she would was because it was for a purpose.

"Well, let's go to the Virtual Dance Floor then." She offered.

"Disconnect from Ronaldo and we'll go to the Private Grid because yeah, I agree, it would be awkward."

Steven blinked, turning to Connie as she grabbed both his hands. Yes...yes that was his intention. He'd almost forgotten after feeling so many strange feelings, potent and powerful just being Ronaldo's body alone. Steven closed his eyes, his mouth agape as his eyes rapidly moved underneath, before opening them to Ronaldo's own. He took his orange visors out of his pocket and put them on.

"Why am I so sweaty?" He said, adjusting himself, then noticed Connie in front of him. Ah it was time.

"Oh hey Connie...Steven going with you now?"

Connie nodded. Ronaldo pulled his CPD out of his DP and handed it to her. He preferred to not be a part of their shenanigans.

"I'll uhh..be by the bar if you need me."

* * *

Connie held the CPD close to her chest as she navigated herself to the rooms; speaking with the Bouncer AI program and engaging with a singular Pod in one of the rooms. Once she entered, she inserted Steven into her DP and entered into one of the two private Pods. She adjusted the settings for the Virtual Dance Floor and no sooner than later, the pair were uploaded to the private Grid.

Upon first glance, you could easily this place was designed to be a lot more engaging and breathtaking. The skies were basically stars and nebulas; black, purple, blue, pink... and the walls non-existent, with palm trees dotted in symmetry, decorated with cables and lights and the ground wad mostly black with grid lines of light working in sync with the music. The bar being manned by an AI Bartender that looked similar to Buck. Once entered, she could see Steven and his fresh avatar. She smiled and took his hand, and again, ran him towards the dance floor here, where it was more wild and free.

_The walls are paper-thin..._   
_You are moving in..._

Steven was much happier like this; as was Connie. The Physics in this place were more enhanced, making every touch far more potent, the sensation of skin and fabric. But the feeling, the desire to touch Connie here was definitely strengthened. He could but wonder if Connie light up with a simple press of a finger in certain places, just like that night at her apartment. His own view of starlight on her naked skin.

_I can see right through somehow,_   
_It all makes sense,_

She was glowing more so here; her clothes that her avatar was wearing now; no high heels for one...in fact she wasn't even wearing shoes...only navy stockings underneath white shorts that had diverging light blue cyberlines from her thigh, going out to go down her shins. Her midriff had those same lines where he could see her belly button...humans had those, that he knew. She had a cut off navy shirt above her stomach, almost see through, underneath a waist length white sleeveless jacket...as well as the sleeves from her shirt stretching thin and tight over her hands, showing off her fingers. Her hair more free with bright light blue highlights...and her make up from her physical form the same, but more shiny and silver.

_Me caving in..._   
_But I barely know you..._

The dancing here was more freestyle, Steven wasn't as energised in his display, preferring to watch Connie rolling her arms and hands and wave her stomach about. She was faster here than in the real world, her movements all the mesmerising all while that it not only had Stevens attention, but a few others watching on as well, surprised at her performance. Steven absorbed her oozing confidence and attempted to mimic her until he was but in sync, able to predict her moves within microseconds.

_I'd rather have one night,_   
_Than nothing forever,_

DJ Sour Creams Avatar was there, tweaking and adjusting as it needed to and the lights around them, the false stars and the graphics from the unique lines of art that were but holograms, working to the rhythm as well. Something so magical, so mystical...so out of this world that reflected in Connie's eyes that had her captivated and engaged, evolving and shifting as humans did.

_Yeah, that would be alright,_   
_With me,_

Something so infectious about humans and their hearts and minds. Things Steven craved...had hungered for, as long as he could remember...there was warmth and tenderness...there was pain...to the chest...right down to the things they called souls.

_It's now or never..._   
_Like planets in the dark,_

Steven himself felt more like a lost soul rather than an AI. That feeling of not knowing your place in either world, not knowing your stance...it _terrified_ him.

_We don't know how,_   
_We got here in the sky..._

There had always been this hook, ever since he first saw Connie in the Domain, running from the Ancillas. A trigger, an activation, a flipped switch if you will.

_Like magnets torn apart,_   
_Don't know why,_

But suddenly, he knew where he belonged. He was done chasing meaningless text on a screen...he just wanted the sweet taste of juicy strawberries on his tongue.

_You come back every time..._

The desire to kiss Connie remained. He'd tasted her before but...here was everything amped up, the closest to reality within his own control, his form...

"Fuck I love this!" Connie called out. 

Steven smiled...knowing how much fun was Connie was having was everything he could ask for. The song might have changed as well as the beat as it slowed down, but the party didn't stop there. Connie had willing come closer to him, turning her back and grabbed his hands out of nowhere, sliding them across her soft skin, feeling every muscle and sending his systems into overdrive. The perfect place to overclock, if he could but describe it the way he had been so charged. His hands were dragged across her abdomen and landed on her hips, feeling the bones, hard they were made to be, but there was so much of unique expression that had humans as they were. Fascinating creatures as Steven knew they were to be.

She was close to him right now...and she could feel his heated breath on the back of her neck that he probably wasn't even aware he was breathing so hard. The environment was deliberately enhanced to mimic the human experience as close they could. She turned her head to try and look at him, grinning as she went to touch his face...and this would be the closest she would get to touch him for real, and it was surreal that she couldn't help but embrace every inch of detail. Turning around as she did again. wrapped her arms around his neck and gazing upon that bewildered neck of an AI that was her boyfriend as he kept his own arounds around her waist, gulping as those sea-sparkling eyes of those had him lost in their violent waves, as she would be his soulful spheres of light and warmth, knowing that they were real and there, and no one one would ever get to convince her otherwise while they gently rocked.

"How are you feeling Biscuit-Boy?" She asked him, using the nickname so playfully.

He nodded, unsure however.

"I...I feel good." He replied, his voice almost breaking.

Connie giggled.

"Glad to hear it." She muttered, running her fingers through his curly hair, all the strands so minor yet noted in their individuality. She raised her mouth besides his ear.

"But I want you to feel... _more_ than good."

Another shiver down his spin as Steven's spine, as he gulped, eyes widened. He forced a smile.

" _Oh_ okay...okay then..." He acknowledged.

She moved back, placing a hand on his round cheek as he blushed.

"Hey, don't worry." She said lovingly.

"You can tell me to fuck off if you're not comfortable."

Was it obvious? No...he wasn't...it wasn't that.

"No, I would never." He said, forcing a smile through his heated nerves.

"I...I'm just..."

Ah of course.

"You can admit if you're nervous Steven, that's completely normal." Connie assured him.

"It's weird though...I'm not immune to nerves myself."

Oh?

"Berry-Girl nervous? Unheard of." Steven joked.

She snorted and punched his chest lightly.

"Oh for fuck sake, I'm only confident because I know I'm good."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Only good?" He questioned.

"Aren't you _more_ than good?"

Connie rolled her eyes. She enjoyed their teasing as it riled up the blood.

" _PFFF._..duh." She answered.

"But we start somewhere in life, unsure of the world around us...who we are...what we are...it shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter. You remind me of me...identities that we try and find and we're meant to forge. Write our own scripts...our own code. But..."

Her frown deeply concerned him.

"Connie..." He said.

She shook her head.

"But fuck...why was I the one to fall for the one thing I can't have for real...why can't you just...be like them..."

They looked at the crowd of Avatars and even User Icons. Scanning them; all of them were people just like Connie.

"You want me to be human..." He said.

It caused her grief to this day....and how selfish she felt for even thinking that.

"Fuck and I wanted to be an AI." She said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I wanted to spend my life and time with you forever in the Domain...but it's a fantasy. A fantasy that will most likely fall apart..."

Words that struck Steven harder than anything he'd ever felt before. It broke his heart seeing her upset like this...

"Because you're worried about the decline of the Domain." He said.

Connie nodded. That report was indeed fairly damning...and the resolution itself was known but out of reach.

"Not just that." She continued.

"Because I still crave the things that the Domain will never be able to give like the real world does...and it pains me greatly if I lose one thing in exchange for another."

Steven wiped a tear from her face with his finger. He couldn't stand to see her choked up like this and cursed himself for being unable to fulfil those wishes for her. Connie wasn't going to compromise what he suspected, those fine lines between humanity and the digital world and he would never want her to. She was fine the way she was; a jerk perhaps but she was his jerk...his Berrybyte.

"Fuck now I'm crying...one too many Revenants...sorry Steven..."

No. She shouldn't have any shame. Not here...not while they could at least be together in a safe space. He didn't want her to apologise.

"Connie...it's okay..." He told her.

She growled and made a fist, shaking under her growing rage.

"Being a human means more broken hearts than you'd ask for..."

No...no no...no more being sad...Steven had enough.

"So I still..."

He grabbed her chin and planted a sudden, deep, invigorating kiss, surprising Connie at first, before she slowly closed her watery eyes and leaned into it. The feeling; intoxicating. They had to make their own happiness here...in the real world...anywhere, really. A few minutes later they disconnected with a small pop, with Connie touching his face again, longing for it even. She was still lost in the haze of her emotions; such is that uncontrollable batch of emotions that would drive people mad before it could be fully restrained. Connie could already admit to being mad, but for good reasons.

"We'll be okay." He told her, sliding his hand down from her face to her waist

"We're together, no matter what....whether its our destiny in the domain...or out there in the real world...no matter where...we're within reach more than you know.."

Words that made Connie smile through her sparkling tears and grabbed her hand. This was beautiful and the word Connie only used when she saw a shiny new piece of equipment or some kind of software that would blow her away. Steven had become much more than software...but the lack of hardware continued to make their relationship more difficult than she'd like to admit. She didn't want to take his presence for granted either, given how some of Connie's old relationships worked out.

"Even if you ended up being the Man on the Moon?" She joked.

Steven snickered. The song had since changed again...

_Feel right at home_   
_When dancin' with strangers_

"I could be the man on the sun...and still I would reach out for you."

And her laughter and inevitable hug, tight, he felt everything from it...the most important was how warm and endearing was..and within moments, their forms became but twinkling light...

_Electrified_   
_And suddenly safer_

And in their place was a tall being, wearing a white jacket waist high jacket, black and grey shirt underneath it, the wild curly hair black fading into dark blue at the ends that went to their waist...the navy sleeves to the hands with black fingerless gloves...and the pink denim shorts with the navy tights underneath...and big black boots...

_Let go of control_   
_Get lost in the lasers_

And a pink Kernel Core in the middle of their stomach...blinking into existence as Stevonnie spun to a halt. Their pink and blue eye jewels glistening from the neon lights.

_I swear on my soul_   
_This moment is sacred_

The crowd around of them was astonished and DJ Sour Cream witnessing all of it.

"Wicked..." He commented; having watched the pair for a while, preparing the display of a life time by playing with the spotlights as they flashed and flickered as well as loud bangs that summoned sparkles that were sent skittering down like snow from above.

"I could totally rave to this."

_Neon night_   
_We're drippin' in glitter_

Other patrons that were at first too shocked to move, soon were joined by the energised Stevonnie bringing them back to life as they danced with everyone there, irregardless of who or what they, all drenched in sparkles, each person looking like their own galaxy.

_We got sun-kissed skin_   
_And a sense of surrender_

Limbs everywhere, smiles dotted on each face like stars. Stevonnie could really felt the drinks through them now...or something else that had run such power through their nerves. The feeling of being alive, all the while, was the strongest it had ever been.

_So we fantasise_   
_That tonight is forever_

_Tonight is forever_   
_Tonight is forever_

Though one individual by the bar, wearing their green coloured hijab, watched on in amazement, before tending to her HUD.

_'Cause we, we are_   
_We are the electric kids, electric kids_

Even one familiar individual male with brown hair and a red scarf on the other side, who recognised Connie and had aims to corner her, was taken aback by this strange new phenomenon that he instantly messaged his buddies about it.

_'Cause we, we are_   
_We are the electric kids, electric kids_

They themselves were the Sun and the Moon in the sequence, the Earth watching them from afar, neither envious or left afraid.

_Kaleidoscope minds_   
_Of a new revolution_

But they were infected by their performance, their own glitch in the systems that compelled them, to draw them to dance.

_Dedicating our lives_   
_To feelin' more human_

This spice of humanity was worth tasting, the sweetness of their world, living in harmony.

_We've opened our eyes_   
_To break the illusion_

Eyes that could see the beauty all around of them...it wasn't real, but be damned that it didn't feel it.

_We're here to unite_   
_It's more than the music_

It could have lasted forever, if it could...and the amount of joy they had together...it had Stevonnie reflect on their original programs.

_Neon night_   
_We're drippin' in glitter_

This Consensus...this...fusion...

_We got that sun-kissed skin_   
_And a sense of surrender_

The closest thing to being alive...

_So we_ _fantasise_   
_That tonight is forever_   
_Tonight is forever_   
_Tonight is forever_

The things humans took for granted; all the experiences they had, most would indeed, put aside as normal or regular.

_Tonight is forever_   
_Tonight is forever_

If only it was....they parted shortly after, as fun as Stevonnie was, Connie was interested in something else indeed...so as the music changed to something lower paced, she had prepared to take him somewhere a little bit more private; she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Connie!"

Looking over, it was Pat. A face she didn't expect to see.

"Hey Pat, what's up?" She asked.

The Data Broker was quite neutral in expression.

"Can you and I talk in private?"

She looked at Steven whom had the attention of several individuals fawning over this program, thinking it was some kind of app.

"Yeah...Biscuit Boy looks like he'll be busy for a while anyway." Connie replied.

Hopefully, this was quick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song lyrics come from Now or Never and Electric Kids by Tritonal


	21. Physics Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie have more fun in their own Private Grid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay long, but pleasant chapter ;)

Pat was the last person Connie had expected to see here; but of course, if there was a reason, it had to do with work. Connie had to calm down from her high from dancing with Steven and as Stevonnie; their shared program. The two sat in a booth as they drank simulated cocktails, Connie had, obviously, strawberry and Pat had her lime. Steven on the other hand was making new friends on the dance floor. She told him where she was, but ordered him not to go too far. She had the expression of judgement, as Connie was subconsciously ready for her to rip into her actions.

"I love how you went from completely ignoring my advice, to risking your Soulware with this consensus nonsense." Pat critiqued.

"What has _gotten_ into your head Berry-Byte?"

It'd been a long time since Connie had given a shit about what anyone thought, especially Pat.

"Hey if I wanted your opinion, I would have slipped you measly credit for it, then kicked your scrawny ass and took those credits back." Connie said drying, playing with the straw on her cocktail.

Connie had already known Pat for some time now and she was mysterious at the best of times. She was the best Data Broker Connie had worked with so far, but good grief if anyone could be more obnoxious than Connie herself it was her. She wasn't exactly against AI's, only that getting involved with one would generally be frowned upon. But Connie made her own conclusions based on facts she'd come across ever since Steven and her started as colleagues.

"But frankly, I think you're the only one I've come across who doesn't actually like Human/AI relationships."

Pat rolled her eyes.

"I never said I didn't like it. You never heard the story about the former head of DM Biometrics?"

The one who went missing?

"Dr. DeMayo?" Connie said.

"The one who said to have stolen the Pink Monolith?"

Pat nodded.

"On the grapevine I heard that he was in fact with a relationship with an AI made by his company. Rumour has it, he had a beloved who died and he had brain-mapped her. I'm not sure how true that rumor is...no one from the Biometrics Labs has ever confirmed that story."

Connie had been trying to dig into the history of that particular company for a while now and her own AI Mother had been feeding her dribs and drabs...but she never told Connie Dr. DeMayo had a dead wife. Drawing on the earlier known fact that her father knew Dr. DeMayo just raised more concerns.

"He was married?" Connie questioned.

Pat shrugged then sipped her drink.

"I don't think so? And people have tried to figure out the name of his partner. All that's agreed upon as apparently her name was Rose...but no traces of her history can be found anywhere. And there's like, a few dozen Roses living within Mega Beach City alone."

Rose...

"Like WallofROSE?" Connie stated, reminded of that mysterious program. Must have been named after her or something.

"But what does this have to do with Steven and I? I mean, it's not hurting anyone."

Pat pursed her lips and looked to the side.

"No...but PeriCom will catch whiff of this...human/AI program you've created. Consensus is normally performed by GIS, not AI's which means this new discovery will catch their interest."

Connie blinked, looking at Steven as he was happily chatting and laughing with numerous avatars. He didn't appear like a GIS to her. Besides, she was sure they would have known anyway and nothing had so far been actioned.

"Maybe he has a similar bit of coding that emulates that function?" Connie suggested, taking a stab in the dark with that assumption. It was weird that they could have created Stevonnie like that to begin with but with Garnets help, had them understand their creation and the subsequent history.

It was possible. Steven wasn't sure of his own origins by this point and for all Connie could imagine was a part of GIS code being put into his upon creation or some kind of patch was implemented by the Ancillas at some point. It was highly likely.

"Maybe." Said Pat, holding doubt to her chest.

"We do know some AIs were reverse-engineered from old GIS, but tweaked enough over time to have them as their own programs. Besides, the thing that separates AIs from GIS, are the phylacteries GIS use, where as AIs are quite flexible with their storage solutions, their file sizes being much smaller than GIS."

Something Connie learned from her mother as well, therefore being transmittable to more places than GIS could ever hope to.

"But that's besides the point..." Pat continued.

"Dr. DeMayo has a bad reputation and those stories are well known among Data-Brokers. That any AI that had been made specifically by DM Biometrics is frequently scanned for any manual access to see if someone even saw Dr. DeMayo anywhere."

Connie put a finger to her lip as she stared hard at the table, her mind elsewhere. Steven, from she understood, was a brain-mapped AI and that was the only company that was known for creating them. And Steven having no memory of his creation drew questions into the, possibly coincidental, likelihood that he had links to Dr. DeMayo in some weird way. Though he did go weird, with that DEJA-VU Bug and all, when they looked at the picture of her father and Dr. DeMayo together so she had to wonder...

_If his memories were wiped, then it stands to reason that there was definitely a good understanding as to why._

Steven must have _known_ Dr. DeMayo, with those pieces slowly making more and more sense. The question was how and why. And was there something that was deep into his databanks that could be brought back? Bismuth was challenging enough but from a existing functional AI; surely it wouldn't be that difficult with standardised code.

"Do AIs have imprints or some kind of line indicating their origins or creation?" Connie wondered.

Pat nodded. Most files did, and sentient systems wouldn't be any different.

"They shouldn't be hard to access." She said.

"Have you looked into his property files?"

Many times, but they always drew blanks. Everything had been erased.

"Yeah, but..." Connie said, before sipping her drink.

"It's like his entire file has this incognito mask on it. Even his file extension is unknown."

One of the greater mysteries, among many others.

"Hmm...I know some Avatars have secondary applications to encrypt important files." She said.

"You might need to strip him down....as in, strip off his shell and gain access to the raw psyche. You're almost guaranteed to find something there, surely."

Connie got a shiver down her spine from that. She didn't feel at all comfortable with it either.

"I don't think Steven would be happy if I shred off his Avatar like that." Connie told her, a bit annoyed.

Pat smirked as she leaned forward, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. Her eyes occasionally dip to look at Steven, then returning to Connie.

"It'd be like taking off his clothes Connie...and it's obvious your attraction to him is beyond emotional." She said with all the sultry she could muster.

"Deep down, your horny ass can't help but want to get a piece of his own. That's why you're here."

Shit. Connie couldn't control her blushing, even as she got pissed off at Pat's assumption despite how accurate she was right now.

"Fuck off." Connie berated.

"So what if I want his digital dick? I have a libido to maintain and if my loins as so automatically point themselves in that direction then so be it. Besides, fucking an AI is probably loads safer than any tangible guy."

Pat leaned forward more and began to stir her drink again with her straw. The words that often came out of her compatriots mouth made her question why they were allies at times.

"Oh you're being so naive and you're doing it on purpose." Pat told her.

"You know virtual STIs exist. Remember that Kevin guy? How he tried to insert a trojan?"

Connie didn't even want to think about it.

"What's stopping Steven from inserting what ever he likes into you? What if this..."

Now she was getting aggro enough to splash the rest of the cocktail at her face, leaving Pat too dismayed to do anything as Connie got up, having enough with Pat's bullshit and attempting to leave the room with her dignity intact.

"You trust him that much?" Pat asked as she wiped her face.

What kind of dumb question was that? Connie slammed her hands on the table as she prepared to drill into the wary Data-Broker.

"I trust him more than anyone." Connie declared with her tone down, but obviously threatening enough to have Pat speechless.

"He's more human than anyone...he gives a shit. I feel honoured to know him, personally and I've learned a lot by just...by conducting consensus, because if there is anything that could be compared to that, then I don't want to hear about it."

Pat blinked as she put her drink aside and went to wiper face with a summoned cloth.

"Then he's already inserted something into you." Pat told her.

Connie rolled her eyes.

"He's the one who upgraded my Soulware.. _.ANNND_ I have a copy of his Avatar in my Soulware, if that's how you'd like to play it." Connie revealed, preferring to gloat her achievements and rub them all over Pats face.

"And Stevonnie...Stevonnie is _ours_...PeriCom can try as they like, but its our program. No one elses!"

Pat's eyes widened. An AI that could...upgrade Soulware that easily? That was new.

"Stevonnie...the Human/AI Consensus Life form. You better find something to make that statement official and fast."

Connie growled.

"Just shut the fuck up." She said, preparing to leave.

"If you want to sell this information then fine, then I know who's ass to kick if it leaks."

A statement that gave Pat pause. She knew this Hacker could really do some damage if she wanted to. She's seen it; the Mega Empire City Incident of 2095 was one still most notable. Those poor lawyers didn't know what hit them.

"I understand you loud and clear, Berrybyte." She said, grabbing her drink, but then taking something out of her pocket and putting it into the Hackers hand. A small, round blue tablet of source.

"But if you try anything silly that you think will cause you problems at least take a Chill Pill."

A Chill Pill; otherwise another name for the Overload Protocol.

"You think that my body will die from all of this input?" Connie commented.

Pat sipped her drink.

"I'm just looking out for my best client, after all." She said, although Connie could hear the sarcasm in the cracks of her words.

"Shit will hit the fan before you know it. What ever is on the horizon; is sure to involve more drama.."

* * *

Still pissed off, Connie went to grab Steven, having enough of Pat's bullshit for the moment. He was busy talking, until he noticed his peeved human girlfriend coming up to him.

"Oh hey Connie, you should meet...woah _woah._.."

She was too pissed off to be bothered to listen, having taken Steven's hand and was preparing to leave the club itself. They were half way towards the Exit Gate when Steven pulled his arm away to get himself autonomy.

"Hey, before you go stealing my arm, I want to get a grip over what just happened." Steven asked, worried about Connie's sudden grumpiness.

Connie stopped and crossed her arms, grunting in displeasure.

"Just...frustrated." She said, pinching her nose.

"Just..."

He didn't deserve this. Steven did nothing wrong to warrant her wrath. Just...people who preferred to stake their opinions without being asked for them. She hated it when people did that. She took a deep breath, then gazed upon her worried boyfriend. Her mind not let her hitch off the idea that Steven had something to do with Dr. DeMayo, however...the festering concept of his creation cornering her hunger for answers in a dark place. She was normally okay with the inviting prospect of juicy drama with companies, revealing affairs, white collar crimes, money laundering and the like. Diving deep into the mysteries of the Domain and its residents; one in particular caused Connie to pause where she normally wouldn't...so it was jarring to go where the hidden lights were, the data protected by sentience, unable to reveal all as she desired.

For now, she was determined to play this out in the way intended...whisking him away into a carefree place of their own for the night, the bright stars of their private dome all they needed to guide the way.

"Never mind. This is _our_ date...I refuse to let it end on a sour note." She declared.

No. She figured she was gonna give him a night he wasn't going to forget.

"Are you sure?" Steven asked as he took her hands in his much larger pair, his eyes on her with the deepest wells of assurance that would serve to warm Connie's normally self-proclaimed cold heart.

"Most definitely." She replied with confidence. It wasn't because she was not warm, which she was, her passion mixed with her arrogance had made sure of that.

"Come on..."

* * *

She took him to the Exit Gate, only for the pair to navigate and jump themselves to a private room. Costs a fair bit of credit per hour but Connie didn't care; all that credit was going to good cause. These Pods were often nicknamed Love Nests; where couples could trial out their fantasies in style, safety and seclusion with the top-tier technology, first invented by the Sex Industry and the company that did indeed make them made a lot of money selling them to the public and private markets. They would cost a lot and draw on a a shit tonne of power, but their quality was unmatched. Some rival companies tried to create cheaper versions but anything less than perfect was easily notable with the dips in service.

A round out room with a king sized bed made of the finest pink silks. Walls of pink and black with the lighting in the corners of the roof to give it that soft mood lighting ambience and short, black curtains on the highest part of the walls for extra...aesthetic, Steven gulped, already feeling weird in this oddly cosy Grid.

"Connie..." He muttered, all of the sudden getting quite nervous.

The rooms had a much better grasp of the physics than the public used dance areas. Connie, not wearing shoes to begin with, felt the threads of the carpet through her toes, as she closed her eyes and took it all in. 

"Take your boots off." She uttered.

The air around her was much more calm and at peace. She wasn't religious, but she did have this worshipping fervour in the way she held her arms up, as if embracing Gods light. Steven had felt real with the double jacking but...he did what he was told as he summoned them away from his Avatar and allowed his...actually his feet to rest upon the soft ground and wiggle his toes against it. The only differences was that he was looking at himself, as opposed to the smaller, darker feet of his partner.

He stood next to her, and noted to himself that the processing power of such a smaller grid was dedicated to the overall experience as if he was human. She slowly made her way to the bed and sat on the edge. Sitting up straight, crossing her legs and holding a seductive smile while she leaned back and planted her hands on the softness of the bed. She gestured him her index finger for him to join her, so Steven made the awkward stride and almost mimicked her posture, minus the leg cross. The silk of the blanket was divine...smooth to the touch as he grasped it in his hands. He could hear Connie's cheeky giggle as she witnessed his back slap onto the bed, then spread his arms.

"Silly in design, if I could say so..." He critiqued, using a pompous accent.

"But I can't deny that, it's not half bad to the touch."

It was like stepping into some kind of lingerie store (which Connie had shown him once while she was looking for underwear and showing him the multiple pieces she was looking to get.) and he preferred the simplicity of Connie's apartment.

"We can change it if you want." Connie offered.

"This is just the default suite. The software comes with over 200 different scenarios."

Really?

" _OOO_ do they have a catalogue?" He asked, intrigued. Connie nodded, loving the suddenly interested look on his face like he was a kid in a toy store. Connie popped up a screen in front of them and let it float between them.

"I'll let you choose if this isn't your tastes." She said, willingly relinquishing that control just to see what he would pick. Not to mention Connie hated to admit how cute he could be when something grabbed his interest.

And he went through it, taking them a few minutes to do so. All the while there was this definite innocence Connie admired. This was a mature act, but there wasn't any reason why they couldn't have fun at the same time. She knew these Pods were also used for other things; simulations for fight practice and other scenarios that required the use of the other senses. She's been in plenty to know what places use them and even her mother said they're also used for risk free surgery sims.

"I _waaannnnt_...this one." He said, pressing on the screen with that youthful type of expression.

Pixel by pixel, the the world around them warped, even the bed. The scenario changed to real bed room, with rain pouring outside. It looked cosy enough, but Connie was alarmed at its simplicity. A wooden bed, white sheets...green walls, candles lit up on the white, wooden night stands. The scent of rain wafted in the air, but it was more pleasant, arising the petrichor that scent itself was even better than that old rusted smell she would have the unfortunate fate of inhaling on some days...and the candles themselves gave off a decadent odour...of strawberries.

A wooden floor that squeaked upon the pressure of it and a round, white fluffy rug underneath her. The temperature was a mild 18 degrees, not too cold but still enough for Connie to feel the tiniest chills through her skin. Steven got up and walked over to the closed window and opened it up and poked his head out, feeling each cool drop plop onto his face. Meanwhile while he was distracted, Connie shifted her Avatars clothes and put on some black lingerie....a translucent night gown that went to her hips with matching panties. 

But the wonder Steven had as he rubbed the drops all over his face, he called Connie over to stand next to him.

"This is so cool, I never thought to use one of these." He said with glee, in relevance to the pods.

This wasn't about Connie...or just about. The selfish side arose again as she wanted him with her on the bed, but...but him like this...Steven loved simplicity that most humans would take for granted. So Connie stood up and stood next to him. Suddenly she felt hands on her waist as he took her up and allowed the fake rain to fall onto her, drenched her head within moments. She spat, and could hear Stevens laughing as her plight and she didn't realise until that moment that he did that deliberately to tease her for his own amusement.

"Very funny Steven." She said drily, the complete opposite of her soggy hair succumbing to the best gravity modifiers.

Once back inside, he placed her down carefully...and he was prepared for the full brunt of punishment, even with his cheeky snickering. At first she was angry, staring down at him with the look of a thousand viruses looking to do some damage, but instead she ended up storming up to him and pushing him back on to the bed, all the while he was chuckling. Climbing onto the bed, Connie crawled her way so she was right above Steven, her glare almost paralysing. A power to her stance, her knees by his hips and her hands planted by his neck, drops from her soaking hair hitting dropping heavily onto his face.

"Ass." Connie said.

"Jerk." Steven said, with the flirtation application running as normal.

Once he was wound down, he raised his hand to pull rogue strands of hair out of Connie's face and behind her ear, so he could look at the face of divinity and the overwhelming urge of desire took over his circuits.

"I want you to kiss me."

A smile crept up on her face, as Steven said that in a way that immediately roped her in and Connie was more than happy to oblige.

"Only if you promise to kiss me back Biscuit-Boy." Connie replied, her voice a little huskier.

Always.

She dove her face in, closing her eyes and tilting her head, Steven matching her as the two locked lips. Their kisses, slow paced at first, but Connie wanted to see how much he had apparently learned and researched. She wouldn't have known this was all virtual, from the heavy nose breathing, to Steven yanking her closer to his body, having one hand on her back and another on the back of her head, causing her to grunt as he put force into it. The two had made out before; in hidden streets of the Domain but it wasn't the same. And Connie had walked passed real side streets on her lonesome travels and had imagined them doing so, catching people there every so often that put in a little bit of jealousy on Connie's end.

The echoes of the rain as it hit the roof and hit the ground with the generous downpour were wonderful on the ears. The sound of it was so foreign, since she would normally hear rain and think little of it, but in this capacity it was just...it just hit different. Another world, another time...peaceful, if not more cleansing.

Connie had the desire to escape the city on some days...go back to the house...knock it down, rebuild with better memories. A pipe dream, really, given her line of work. If she had grown up the conventional way then she could have still been there. So now she was annoyed at herself for dipping into age old desires...and blamed this simulation for allowing the idea to upload itself into her once again. It was painful enough to have Connie pause and disengage, then slide up to the head of the bed and hold her knees close to her chest. 

Blinking at the suddenness, Steven got up and sat next to her and wrapped his hand around her shoulders and brought her close.

"Hey, what's the matter Berry-Girl?" He asked.

Everything.

"Just..." She said, unable to look him in the eye.

The thought of a future with him came and went but right now she was fixated on this fantasy she couldn't have, instead of focusing on the fantasy they had now. Her eyes were now on the rain outside. Foolish feelings and their weights upon her soul, her conscience.

"You know what you want...don't you..."

That was a random question.

"Sort of?" He said, uncertain of what angle she was playing at.

Connie on the other hand...

"You want to live." She said, if his repeated trips on the outside world were any clear indication. It was obvious, given the context.

"You take in everything humanity has to offer. You want to breath the same air, see the same sky. And yet..."

He gets that through double-jacking and it tends to satiate him for some time, but he wasn't the type to be greedy.

"What is your end goal? How do you see your future panning out?"

It wasn't exactly something he had planned. For what he knew, he could live forever as a digital construct, serving the Domain and its affiliates for as long it could last. 

"I'm not too worried about it, but I think a lot about my past for one thing." He said.

"AI's and GIS are meant to know what they are made for. I'd like to know what mine was. Or better yet, is."

Purpose. It all dragged down to purpose...for Steven had that brief crisis, offended at the concept of being useless, junk data that had no place anywhere and that maybe the Ancillas took pity and cared for him like he was one of their own. Connie thought to interrogate their secrets. After digging in too deep and risking their wrath, Connie was hesitant to try again, knowing how dangerous GIS could be. Connie had problems dealing with their foreign code at large which was why they needed Pearl to deal with the Bismuth program.

"What about you Connie?"

Now that wasn't something she expected to think about. Again. All she could believe in was that she was living moment to moment. The present was more important to her. But she would age...and die one day without warning.

"I'm supposed to know what I want." She told him.

"Hacking is all I have ever known. Robbing the rich, distributing upon the poor as a modern day Robin Hood. Fighting for both the vulnerable and the exploitable....and against them."

Twisted as it seemed.

"But it's like, fuck how am I supposed to know what will happen tomorrow...and the day after that..."

She could always ask Garnet...but he gathered that's not what she was talking about.

"I will get old Steven. Old...grey...wrinkly...smelly."

Didn't matter to him. Maybe the smelly part, but everything else.

"So you want to be immortal like me?" He asked.

No...yes? No...it was all too confusing.

"Fuck. I..." She cried, digging her fingers into her scalp. It was doing her head in and it would sooner give her a headache on branching out like she was planning multiple potential timelines. Earlier she was going on about how she had the desire to become an AI like Steven and now she wanted to be human and to push Steven away before they dove in too deeply into this strange relationship of theirs. She was going to wear and tear if she hadn't done so already. The curse of being human, she supposed. She only spoke of the truth.

"I...just don't want to _think_ about the future. I want to think...I want to think about you...I want to feel...happy."

Steven smiled. He could certainly help with that.

"Then let's not think about the future then." He told her, grabbing her chin to force her to look at him.

"Let's think about us. Let's think about now..."

Connie couldn't help but look into those big eyes of hope and love that she had seen beyond this cell. The warmth fluttered through her like a shock to her body...the increased sensations doing much to her form that her psyche didn't want to lose.

"Yeah...yeah I can do that." She said softly, a smile emerging from her lips.

"Let's do that."

She instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, feeling the moistness of his lips before she dived in to meet with his tongue. Small moans, big moans...Connie couldn't get enough...and neither could Steven. She rolled him over so she was on top; which was the kind of domination Steven enjoyed. A hand met with the zip of the top he was wearing as she slid it downwards, ever so slowly. Once all the way he didn't resist as she took it off and threw it to the floor.

Sitting on his lap, she looked and believed that before her was the body of a king; well, too cheesy perhaps? It was certainly large and stocky enough for her to explore...and the pink Kernel Core itself, the mandatory reminder of his status as an AI; she wouldn't want him to discard anyway. Most men she'd been with didn't have the same defining trait she liked. It brought him into a state of ambiguity of who he was, but at the same time, the mystery of this AI who was so human on first glance...

He was warm, and soft to briefest of touches as Connie placed her fingertips onto his chest, then traced their way around his body, feeling the lumps and bumps as she made her own hasty trails. Steven could only but study Connie's body language, fascinated by the way this was emulated that you would easily mistake it for the real thing. The tiny grin on her face meant the biggest satisfaction for him while she explored his torso and made rings around the facets of his Kernel Core, which was the most vulnerable part of his Avatar and yet, it was almost the most sensitive as he found out, shivering as electrical shocks popped through him as she touched it.

"I like it when you touch me there." Steven commented, even though it looked like the opposite.

Connie giggled, a song better than silk. 

"Really?" She said.

"Better give it some extra attention."

She shifted herself as she began to kiss Steven's neck which sent those powerful sparks, even as made dotted kiss from there, down his chest, then to his Kernel Core where she started suckling on it. Steven hissed and grabbed the sheets underneath him, breathing heavily all of a sudden. Connie's other chuckles, suckles and moans sent odd vibrations throughout as well, like the bass itself had its own amplified growth.

"Oh g-gosh."

There was something alien about it as well...and Connie dared to run her hand on his crotch, pressing hard against the fabric of his pants and feeling the hardness...she didn't think Steven was stupid enough to have the...ahem, hardware installed (she knew it was software but she wanted to make a bad pun) and not have it function as it was supposed to. He was hesitant with watching porn, but she said it was a lesson as opposed to the overall aim of visual and sensual pleasure.

She pressed hard and Steven whined and popped his chest upwards, not anticipating how painful yet pleasant that was becoming. He looked down to see her pulling at his pants and trying to drag them down. He wiggled his legs to help her and within moments his cock sprang free to the cool air. Connie had no reservations on placing her hand on it and slowly began to pump it.

"Woah I..."

Her movements with smooth like water as she flowed...going from pumping, to moving her head above his cock and began to lick it. The wetness and texture had Steven's eyes widen in surprise....she knew what he liked without him even saying it...then again she had experiences with men in the past, so she must have experimented plenty of ways to please a man and this AI with a preference for being male had been no different. Eventually she took to the tip in, then went in deeper and slowly went up and down. The suckling noises were even worse than before, with Connie's hands planted and anchoring his thighs in place.

"Aahhhh..."

It was like a mixture of fear and surprise rolled into the sudden electrifying spikes he had from all the sensations he's never had before. It was so new and so empowering yet, he could break if they weren't careful. He knew he wasn't either a sex bot or an AI programmed for humans and their carnal desires that were programmed to hold those spikes; making them tougher and stronger than most AIs. GIS? He wasn't sure if GIS even had the need or a similar sensation. Knowing Garnet and the Synthesised, suggested they had their own versions.

Connie's ears picked up Stevens panting, looking at him directly in the eyes as she took him in repeatedly, and felt every twitch, every cut off gasp. To see how stretched she could make him, a variant of torment and agony that served a greater purpose. He definitely felt some bubbling inside of him, boiling and wanting escape.

But he couldn't help but see how beautiful she was, even with her reddened face and hearing those fain brief quips of sinister laughter, inhaling the air through her nose like oxygen existed. He's felt her lungs burn as she went to the gym and he's felt her sweat from working out so hard, her heart pumping under the push of her body going beyond its limits and now Steven was feeling it all for himself. He swallowed saliva and grunted, his chest rising in intervals that got shorter and shorter...and Connie knew from this that he was about to come.

"GSHHH ahhhh..."

Steven's head fell back as he grabbed her head to get a hold of reality. Unconsciously thrusting up wards, his lower body quaked as he felt it all shoot out with a mighty furore. His cock pulsed as Connie removed herself, with the cum squirting all over her face as she was out of breath, closing her eyes. Steven had a hand on his chest, somehow feeling some kind of heartbeat beneath his fingers. 

"Shh....gah...oh man..." He breathed.

And again her head Connie's flirty laughs as she sat up, looking at him with a mischievous grin.

"How was that?" She asked him, not even bothering to wipe the cum off of her face.

"Yeah...yeah that was amazing..." He answered, trying so hard to get his breath back that really, he shouldn't have to.

Eventually she summon a towel to wipe it all off of her, with Steven sitting up to comprehend what just happened.

"The way you took it in...it's amazing how well they put in that much to make it work so well..." He commented, amazed at the technology.

He was so cute in a way his focus would jump from one fascinating thing to another. Connie pulled up the settings and checked the different adjustments she could make. Rubbing her chin, she wanted him on the brink of breaking. Not too break, but ever so close. It was dangerous to have these simulations too close to real, as humans had actually died as a result of putting up the settings too high and it seemed like this place had a limit on how much you could increase it by. 

Connie was all about pushing those boundaries. After all, if she was too scared, he wouldn't have never been a successful Hacker as she was now. And while Steven babbled on about the technicalities of it all, describing each sensation as its unique subroutine or algorithm, Connie was more inclined to turn up the heat.

And found something perfect.

Once adjusted, she slapped her hand on Steven's mouth to shut up and do as he was told. Pushing him to the headboard on the back of the bed, he rested his back against it, while Connie sat on his lap, putting her arms around his neck again before she kissed him deeply for a brief moment.

"What's...uhh....what's next then?" He asked, eager to continue.

Just like she wanted him to.

She was after something a little different this time. Most things she had gone in too were too fast paced. She wanted to lengthen this...a slow burn....and rope it all in at a rate that it would allow it to simmer quite nicely.

"Take off my clothes." She whispered into his ear.

"You could just summon them off you know." He told her, as if context didn't exist.

Rolling her eyes, she had to admit that he wasn't that human as she thought she was.

"Just do it Biscuit Boy." She ordered, slightly irritated.

He swallowed again and nodded. The two made out again, with a hand rising up Connie's arm and rubbing it...and perhaps, that he might see why she wanted him to do so. Thick fingers that slid across skin and to her waist, underneath the singlet and eventually helped her pull it over her head, to reveal those taut lace, black bras. He knew and has studied the way to unclip bras for one thing, but for now, he grabbed her behind which resulted in a surprised but amused gasp. Pulling her up, Steven was fascinated by her stomach and her...belly button was it? What Connie did to him, should work the same in his opinion.

Kissing her stomach had Connie giggling again, relishing in Steven's willingness to explore her for himself this time and not being guided by Connie's hand. Whining in between, she was more than clearly taking Steven's attempts to taste her different parts....

Sliding her down, Connie booped him on the nose, with the latter grinning all the while with all the pink on his face. Surely enough they started making out again, as Steven made work of the clips of her bra. Took him a shorter amount of time then most guys, but then again, AI's process stuff quicker than normal people.

Sliding her bra off and throwing it the side allowed Steven the gorgeous view, her avatar displaying her breasts in the fullest quality. 

"Suck on them Steven..." She ordered, her voice husky.

If he was honest, Steven actually liked it when she ordered him around. Made him feel like a proper AI with immense purpose. The best kind of purpose. But if she could be strong and forceful, so could he...

So with little effort, he pulled her around and had her lying on the bed this time, with Connie stunned to see this sudden show of force, but was turned on by it all the same. Her body, her dark skin against the white fabric...that made for a contrast that made her, incidentally, as clear as day. Steven teased her at first, preferring to shove his face between her tits and rubbed himself all over them. Connie couldn't help but laugh at the way he tried to toy with her, like a dog wanting its master to pat them. 

Stopping at some point, his mouth found its way to her right nipple and began to gently nibble on it. He's never been with anyone else before but...Connie found it stronger maybe because she changed the settings a little but...it was making her heart race faster by something as simple as his tongue on the nub and the massage on the other neglected. Steven felt its...supple, squishy, bounciness appealing. A blob that he liked to poke as well. Connie had a hard time trying not to laugh, as snickers made their way in between satisfied sighs.

It caught Connie off-guard on how much she missed the playful side of things that would make all of her one night stands pale in comparison. The rare collection of joy downloaded into her being, her soulware that savoured every drop. Normally sex had one or two reasons to be and that what she had been lacking was not necessarily the raw passion but the simply premise of actual contentment. Lovers that came and went, those she would need to copulate with for one purpose or another. It felt like forever since she had the audio sample of her own laughter and her partners; something not experienced since she lost her virginity as a teenager.

And Steven could be playful...poking, prodding...teasing in more innocent ways and Connie could give as good as he gave her in return. Lessons learned from many sources and, frankly, Connie was amazed that this relationship had lasted as long as it did, rarely losing its spark despite not being that intimate all that often.

Though the definition of intimate meant two separate things between those in the real world and those the Domain. Steven double-jacking with her for example...considered a sacred trust between software and hardware. What would be considered sacred to ones and zeros? Their own sets of morals, not being confined to the needs and wants like those of the flesh.

He desired all that which humans needed to live. To eat, to sleep...to love. AI's could educate themselves out of necessity, for them to continue their functions as binary entities. 

Right now, were lips and hands on skin that couldn't get enough and the moans and groans those responses to those needs met...and the needs became wants as the temperature increased....with a rogue hand that belonged to Steven making its way to her black panties, with the insatiable prompt waiting to be accepted.

"This user requires these to be taken off." Steven said with a slight growl...one that certainly sent nerves coiling up as a result. Connie was bemused, so she nodded and bit her lip, giving him direct permission.

"Accepted." She uttered to him.

A large index finger hooked onto the wasted band as Steven slid the pants off, with Connie flicking them off the foot as it was sent off the bed...and the sight he'd seen clearer than ever...the raw shell of Connie laying before him...vulnerable, but not exactly defenceless or weak. She could still make her commands in this form, so he still had to be cautious of any sudden trickery. Connie would want him to be, anyway.

So he looked everywhere and scanned what he could. The realist version of Berrybyte that he could admire in this safe space, smiling at him and waiting for his next move. But suddenly he could see Connie moving her lips but couldn't hear what she was saying. Suddenly Steven's hand was yanked to her crotch. Her lips were moving too quickly for him to figure what she was saying; his closed captioning wasn't even on at that moment.

"This user requires her Assistant to insert a Micro USB into the slot." Connie ordered, trying to hold back the cackles from how dumb that sounded.

OH that's...

No wait, she didn't mean his...

Ah...no...

He was about to be offended for some reason, though he wasn't sure why.

"I meant your finger dingus. I ordered your hand there for a reason."

Steven's face went deep pink with embarrassment. Connie reminded herself to be patient with him, chastising her self but it was her inherent nature to be a jerk to people. Shaking herself out of it wasn't going to be easy.

"I mean, sorry just..."

"No no...I just thought..."

Connie sighed. Patience, patience...

"Just don't think. Do." She told him.

It took him a hot minute to understand, before went back to kissing her, and a finger went to her clit, running circles across the nub. He was tender and careful, but Connie's exhaled of relief told him he was doing this right. He wanted to do it right. The finger eventually engaged and curled itself in short intervals, with her breathing in sync with it. He absorbed all the things he could possibly describe. Wet was the the most prominent, unusual was the next though alarming wasn't. It was a bit different from how he felt Connie touch herself and now he could form his own opinion...that he was enjoying it...hearing Connie's satisfying noises and hearing her squeak and small cries for more. 

The knowledge grown and gained alone, enough for him to understand such a nuance. The amplification of what humans could do to each other in closed spaces such as this. Their worlds for these moments so brief, but so staggering in the impact it provided, the creation of something that in the end, held no comparison, no true description. Other than the word of love and all its controversy.

Garnet talked to him about the concept of love. Guided humanity to succeed and helping avoid extinction. The chemicals that form bonds between the other. He was no organic so theoretically he shouldn't even feel this. Garnet had chalked it up to connections working out well and so right within their emotional cortexes...the Ruby and Sapphire GIS somehow knowing, and wanting to form something like Garnet as their primary OS and to fit so perfectly. Steven could think this was how Stevonnie formed; somehow the coding and the commands that out of a simple yes or no prompt, said the former without much delay.

Things that just worked somehow were always something of a mystery in the Domain. AI's. GIS. BM-AIs in particular; their framework just as easy to break down but they were the bridge, the gap between what humans could use to communicate and the technology in question being utilised. Garnet praised this, their version of love and the love that held the Synthesised together, despite their existence being more of a detriment to the Domain because, if removed, it was akin to having missing lines of code that weren't able to be added or patch it on a conventional basis by any human user.

Connie twitched; glitched if you will, as Steven suckled her neck and continued to finger. Her breathing was hitched and her moaning increased in volume and pitch. She was certainly close. Everything brought up more than instruction; the human concepts of DESIRE, LOVE were his orders; maybe to some their facsimiles put into the equation at mere triggers.

"Yes..." Connie said ever so softly and quietly...though succeeding words elevated in volume in pitch.

"Yes...yes...Yess...AHHH!!!"

Her body thrashed about as Steven felt her flow on his finger; the gush like a curtain drawing to a close, with her readings off the charts in terms of the pleasure she reeled from; breathing heavily and hand on her forehead, eyes clenched closed as the struggle to focus was her battle, heat pulsing through and her quivering thighs as she came down from her orgasm. It left Steven smiling at how she writhed under him, his task at hand completed. For the moment. He removed his finger and roped in the visuals of his human lover as Connie gradually got her breath back. She was grinning from ear to ear and left in a giggly mood afterwards.

"That's...that's..hehe...that's it, good boy." Connie teased, stealing a peck on his cheek.

"But you know...I always want more."

Of course she did. And Steven was far less naive as to think to know exactly what she wanted. He was designed to know and form ways to satisfy his owner. Connie wouldn't think of it as such, but the common AI would follow the laws of registration and ownership and Connie would compare it to the act of slavery.

The only issue was, at this moment, he was a slave to her. Willingly. Because her smile, her being...at the start he wasn't aware of how grinding and foul mouthed she could be...the smoking, the drinking and the like. Traits. But within her heart, there was soulware needing attention, needing affection. Who would have believed an artificial intelligence of sorts could possibly give?

He moved her hair out of her face, grabbing her chin as he leaned down to lock lips. Bodies adjusted and bodies angled to a more comfortable position. He took Connie into his lap; a service of protection, to hold her in his arms and to keep her close. She made a little yelp as he did so....and he got to run his fingers across her bare back while she had gripped onto his scalp, drawing him in. Each kiss as potent as the last, tasting everything and forgetting for the moment that it was all artificial; but not superficial.

It was still a splendid service and Steven felt Connie wiggling about and trying to take his cock into herself. The sensation of it going in there with a sudden pop and locking it caused Steven to grunt with the tight feeling around his member. Beginning to rock against him, the burn itself began to rise, beginning on small embers. More moans, tiny gasps and groans and hunger to devour the other entirely was there. Connie couldn't get enough...as all the lovers she's ever had wouldn't be as great as this.

She would deny it to be love if she could help it, but damn it was _something_ that made this all the while stronger. The cold air against sweaty, heated skin. The clear, crisp audio of the curious noises the other made. Simply delightful. And Steven enjoyed the rhythm...in and out...sometimes out as Connie would lengthen (on purpose he figured) or shorten her bounces. The force could be heard in the wet slaps...how that in itself was incredibly arousing to Steven wasn't giving him any issues to question, other than it being a measurement of their efforts.

Now Connie was in a twisted mood, she wanted to alter the room once more. She wanted to find out Steven's imagination with different positions, so she got rid of the bed, but the two floated there, much to Steven's surprise that the gravity modifiers had been lessened somewhat. Walls, floors and the roof faded into an ethereal dark blue, while Connie folded her legs around him. Everything broke around them and left them in this simulation of space.

"You have this secret desire to fuck in the cosmos?" Steven questioned.

Connie grinned, her eyes half-lidded.

"Well not really...but we're in a cell that's built for this kind of thing...might as well take care of some fantasies I've never gotten to try."

Who was Steven to deny her? He could have just hacked on her as a prank and have them fall into a haystack of some farm and fuck in a farm shed for organic aesthetic but maybe for another time. But technically, she was raiding and ruining his fantasy.

"Did you have a crush on the Man on the Moon?" He joked.

Connie nearly nipped at his nose with her teeth with that gesture.

"No I do _not_ have the desire to fuck the man on the moon...idiot."

Steven chuckled as he kissed her chin.

"I never said you wanted to fuck him." He said.

"Besides, I was being sarcastic."

She made a cute growl, before they went back to kissing each other senselessly. Steven manoeuvred himself, disconnecting briefly as he floated behind her. He dipped behind Connie and spread her legs, a hand keeping one up and put another onto her stomach to keep her back against his, inserting his cock into her once more and thrusted upwards for measure. Connie's never tried this position before, as Steven dug his chin into her shoulder, smooshing their faces together.

"Again." She ordered.

Another thrust, another gasp.

"AGAIN and keep _going._.."

While he loved taking orders, he also liked to play dumb and stir up his beloved.

"Say the magic word." Steven asked.

A growl of desperation mixed with annoyance was all that he needed.

" _Please._..you _ass_..."

The hand on her stomach moved downwards and played with her clit as he continued with multiple thrusts. He grunted, she moaned. The playfulness, the experimentation...all this was supposed to part of human nature as Steven could see it; the concept of BM-AI's holding that better understand as their minds shifted towards that pre-educated part of their memories. Or even that which had been based on their nervous system. How much was copied over all and how much could even be copied; if Steven's original self had the same preferences. It would be a debate for years to come with no solid answer on the horizon.

His deep chuckles; their bass permeating through her body. They were like this for a while, this essence of bliss. Though eventually, Connie became a tad uncomfortable.

"Alright...alright...your turn to choose the scen-scenario." Connie said.

Give and take; for this had become an exchange of the heart. What Connie wanted. What Steven wanted. Connie however, liked to see where Steven's creativity style; where his preferences would lie. Steven closed his eyes and got rid of the space around them. Heading back to solid Earth, forming a worn down building of some sort with a lot of hay; a barn. The smell of dirt and freshly cut grass wafted in their scents as well and the constant chirping of birds in nearby oak trees. He carried Connie in his arms and laid her gently across the hay and hovered over her with a cheeky grin on his face. Connie didn't even want to think of how much of the hay was in her hair, even if it was a simulation; she could imagine how tangled each straw was gonna be tangled right in there. Not to mention the straws going into her back, although they weren't too bad, being softer than she imagined them to be.

"Farm huh?" She said, snickering. So much about thinking about now.

"Ever since I took you back to where I grew up..."

Steven shrugged.

"There's something appealing about farms for some reason." He said.

Sex and conversation wasn't new to Connie, but she didn't mind it at this point. Sex _was_ a conversation, however brief it was. Steven had it turned into an entire review.

"The green, the growth...isn't that how humans used to be?"

Connie bit her lip; she was still wanting him to fuck her senseless but otherwise indulged in his philosophies.

"Yeah..." She said, looking outside at the clouded skies.

"There was hard labour, getting down right in there, toiling fields and growing crops."

People would call it an honest life, but the lifestyle was so rare these days.

"Aching bones and muscles...and a single bad season with little to yield meant you'd be left starving and out of pocket."

There were positives and negatives...and Connie never saw herself going into that market again. These days it was all about the artificial....the formulas that emulate the same flavours, textures through replication and fake additives. Connie wasn't even sure what was organically grown anymore.

"There's pain in everything isn't there?" Steven asked; voice almost coarse while he was rubbing his nose against her neck.

"This...this ache I have... There's a hunger I've never had until I met you. I think, there's a reason for the suffering."

Connie rolled her eyes; his poetical side on the fringe again.

"There's suffering irregardless, dependant on circumstance." She said.

"The further you dip into the territory of humanity, you will also get closer to the hurt..."

Hence one of Connie's reasons for making herself an AI among many others.

"Oh...I didn't mean...I..." Steven said, stammering his words, feeling like he got it all wrong unless Connie had completely misinterpreted what he said.

"I suppose there is good pain and bad pain right...isn't there?"

Connie wasn't up for the heavier theoretical debates, however. But Steven was trying so hard to get a hold of it all, the lines in between.

"That's up for each individual to decide..." She answered, while rubbing his arm.

"Its all contextual, in the end."

Steven started kissing her neck while she spoke. The warm returning as it did; skin to skin, the friction minor but still potent. 

"Like I'll suffer for you...if I have to, I mean...heh...I am already..."

No. He didn't want her to. Not if he could help it...placing the dotted pecks all around her form like creating stars.

"I'll take the pain away...I'll....I'll erase it." Steven declared.

The strength in his words, his conviction were honest. Connie wouldn't tell him that it was impossible, but she was thankful for him wanting to do so.

"Maybe if you just stick your cock into me, it might ease it for a few hours." She joked.

And her smile...he couldn't find the right word to describe how he felt about it. Lifting his head as he was above her belly, he almost perfectly faked disappointment, if it wasn't for the edging grin trying to form.

"Awww you won't let me play anymore?" He cried.

His pouting almost made Connie feel pity. _Almost_.

Though it made her wonder if he was stuck in some kind of mindset when it came these things. Sure, he was cute and kind but he was also naive and childish. Connie liked the mature men for their straight forward manner. Sex was simple yet complex, passionate but relieving...but this was just so...all over the place...messy in a sense. Connie wanted a fuck but Steven came into this without a particular idea of how to handle a scenario. Goodness knows if he was actually human and how he would have gone about it with someone else with less patience.

Connie had to be patient and she told herself this many times now; that he was an AI and they had unusual learning algorithms. So of course Steven's questions would be raised on a platform of uncertainty, filling in those gaps in his matrices with answers he could hold on to. But he had to be aware that no answer was solid and that it would be subject to change, always, on circumstances in and out his control. 

Suddenly she felt bad again for pushing this in directions she had hoped it would be going towards. Sex had been on Connie's mind for ages and she subconsciously had it all mapped out...but Steven was still Steven in and out of the bedroom; inquisitive, curious, a tease. All with a big heart smack in the holographic centre.

"We _are_ playing..." She said, then pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. 

"I mean, you can have the super emotional in depth sex or you can have fooling around...."

Couldn't he have both?

"I think I like things the way they are." Steven said, kissing her thighs.

"You're not enjoying this?"

On the contrary.

"I am." She said.

She had this thing where she wanted him to shut up and stop questioning for a while.

"I like either....but..."

He grabbed her hand and began to kiss the back of it, ever the gentleman.

"Sorry...I...I'm new to all this....even with all the..research I'm still getting it wrong. I shouldn't be." He said, voice shaky.

Connie shook her head and grabbed his cheeks, smooshing them in her hands.

"I know but...look it's my fault." She said.

"We rushed into this and I didn't exactly have a game plan in mind."

She was so used to quickened affairs that went so fast. This was more drawn out then she'd like it to be. Connie had to remember; it'd been forever since she'd been in a proper relationship...and this wasn't exactly proper either. She gave him a taste when he was riding in her head, and she figured this was, naturally, the next step.

"I just want to make you feel good Connie." He told her, eyes deep into her own.

And he was. Just...by existing and being himself that had Connie have feelings she hadn't had in years. 

"And I want to make you feel good Steven." She said in response. The guilt fell through in her tears, to where he wiped them away with his finger. How did something so genuine cause so much grief?

"Do what you want."

Words that gave him pause to reflect on such a command. If she just wanted a fuck then he was going to give her one. Closing his eyes, the skies themselves turned dark; with the show of the dark, starry void. It was silent, save for a subtle hum on the ears. The silence was as cold as the barn, which seemed have to have wooden crates of strawberries everywhere now. It took to Connie seeing the Earth in the distance to realise what he had just created.

"Oh I get it." She said.

"You want to be the Man on the Moon."

It left her in a bit of chortle, if she had to add.

"Not just any man, but yours." He said, with the ample amount of flirt to it.

Connie watched as Steven re-positioned himself between her legs while sitting on his knees. He grabbed one thigh and brought her entrance closer to him. She liked this, Connie's eyes half lidded as she could see the light shining through the barn doors, creating his bulky silhouette. She could see the faint pink glow in his eyes; the spins like he was scanning her, think about what he was doing to do to her in that moment and the crafty smile on his face that had Connie biting her own lip in anticipation. His Kernal Core radiating its own pink light, processing everything Steven was about to do.

"Let's see if you can make some cream to go with these strawberries." Connie muttered. It was a bad pun, yet again but she figured getting the symbolism right was more important.

Steven snorted with how stupid it was, but he was never against the silly stuff. Within the cusp of seriousness now, however, Steven went ahead and held his cock towards her, pausing briefly before making another thrust inside. Yes...finally, Connie thought. The thrusts started off slow like before; more slapping of skin on those intervals. The movements just right, the noise levels just right. Connie's own little groans and Steven's whines and hasty inhales. The intrinsic human occupancy of air in a place not needing it, but the Domain and its pockets and private grids had its own functionality for natural human like responses as if they were in the real world. It was to allow humans to remember to breath once they returned back.

As well as the sweat from the inevitable increase in body temperature; rolling down skin. The breasts that bounced to gravity, force and impact. The parts of the body with both the good and bad pain blending in...because it felt beyond good. Steven understood that a bit better now, finding the need to go faster. 

And there was the minute like from before he didn't have the mental capacity to contemplate; the friction between their parts holding the most detailed aspects as to why it felt so...amazing. The wetness, the tightness and the roiling and swelling like oceans that his processors had a hard time keeping up with.

"Yes... _yes_...don't _stop_..." Connie cried.

And Connie herself; her face; reddening and more sweat on her face and body.

" _Harder_..."

On command Steven quickened up the pace and the force of his thrusts suddenly upped Connie's volume...her cries like music to his ears.

" _Hnngggg_..." Steven grunted.

The emotional cortex struggled to comprehend and Steven feared experiencing another black out from the impact of his inevitable orgasm. No. He wanted to last long for her but the pain within was becoming unbearable. His focus was elsewhere and HUD disappearing completely; his eyes only on his love now as she writhed. Steven re positioned himself to hover above her again, wanting to go deeper into her as Connie widened her quivering legs for him to do so. His hands were by her neck, and Steven kissed Connie, to where their tongues greeted each other, with hungry conversation. Connie moved her hands to his back and rode him; digging her tips into his skin as she grappled to keep hold. The losing battle was, for once, one she wanted to lose to, as she would only be able to lose herself.

Steven soon buried his head next to hers, pushing in and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Auhaaaa."

And where he was; a perfection position to listen to every squeak, every shout and scream, no matter how brief, jittered and incoherent they were. There was an interest in the matters that didn't have to make sense, which was an odd thing for an AI to like; their priorities meant to reshuffle all code until it did.

"Yes... _Connie_...oh....fuck, _fuck_.... _ahhh._.."

Calls from him did just as much to Connie...ploughing into her with a greatness unmatched. All those muscles deliberately tuned to perfection like well oiled hydraulics. She loved everything about it, Connie decided. From the squelches and the desperation...his aforementioned hunger was there on display, consuming everything in sight.

"Cum...cum into me Steven..." She called out to him.

"Fill me...fill me... _please_..."

She could tell he was close by the hastened rhythm of his thrusts; the heightened pitch in his grunts...and before long...

" _Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"_

Connie felt the fire, the explosion from her core outwards, once tightened and wound, now let lose in the fury of the eruption with shaky legs. She thrashed, pushing her chest forward and her head back and exhaled the power of a goddess in her screams. Steven kept going, wanting to see everything but everything was becoming but a blur from moment to moment. The distortion was before the meltdown and he did everything he could to hold on..as Connie instinctively knew he was on the verge on collapse and held on and wrapped her legs around him to keep him stable.

"Connie...I can't...I'm _gonna_..."

His audio receptors fizzled like crazy but he his others sensors were all still there, raw and painful to withstand under its own power for any longer, scrunching his eyes shut.

" _Gahhhhhhhhhhhh!_ "

One mighty thrust was all it took as he felt the liquid shoot out of him and the rawness in the power that would sooner destroy, flowed through him instead, pouring into Connie with the strength of a bull, body violently quaking. Such a strength, she had so called out for and his roar, met with the devouring gasps of false air as he slowed himself down, his moist seed trickling out around her blocked entrance like ooze...

Steven swallowed, his arms struggling to keep himself up as he panted. So much that his sensors overloaded, mixing up so many strong feelings that were left swimming on there on. Opening his eyes, he could see Connie's face and suddenly the glitch's came in full vault, his psyche being thrust into the void involuntarily, but he tried so hard to hold on.

He could hear Connie call out his name, but even that was distorted. It brought him confusion, shame and the lack of tangibility and sense messed with his runtimes until he saw nothing but darkness.

Not _again_...


	22. Activation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ancient events replay themselves to Steven and new leads are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue heavy chapter coming right up.

Suddenly it was the silence again. No feeling, nothing...just..the wet and cold. Steven figured that THIS wasn't supposed to happen. The calmness in contrast was completely jarring and troubling Steven more than he let on. Recollection became next to impossible, like something else was forcing him to think and to feel different way and the lack of control felt like an automated VI set of instructions. Until he began to hear muffled voices.

"How is it today?"

A sentence disturbed such thoughts. Sounded like Doug. He was here again; where ever here was.

"Good. It's achieved Golden State. He's finally awake."

That had to have been Dr. DeMayo.

But it wasn't enough. Steven still couldn't see anything.

"Fantastic." Doug said, enthused.

"Connie, come here honey..."

No...wait? He heard he pitter patter of feet getting louder.

"How old is she now?' Dr. DeMayo asked.

"She's 2 and three quarters..as she usually says. But she's unusually quiet today. Probably nervous....she normally is around strangers."

Connie? Nervous?

"Oh she'll be fine." Dr. DeMayo continued.

"So we've asked it some questions and, yes it's a male."

Of course...

"Oh yes and does it like the name you chose for it?" Doug asked.

It?

"Yeah, Steven is fine." Dr. DeMayo answered.

"Okay so I'm just about to activate his visual receptors. So he'll be able to see us. This is _exciting_."

Within moments, Steven could see the loading screen in the middle, though the text in the middle didn't mean much. The screen started as pixels, pink pixels that increased in quality with a white boarder on his HUD. No sooner than later, Steven could see three individuals.

A man to his left, with long brown hair in a ponytail and wearing a labcoat and grey glasses as he fiddled with some kind of console. Next to him was a man, black hair, brown skinned, wearing black security uniform and black glasses. Next to him was a young girl with long, curly black hair, a light blue dress and a recognisable strawberry pendant. She clung onto the mans leg as a look of fear took over, her innocence a prominence on her features.

"Hey Steven! Hows it going?" Said Dr. DeMayo. Steven's sensors identified him as such, the words, Dr. Gregory DeMayo in a caption box next to him. He scanned the man next; Mr. Doug Maheswaran. Then the girl; Miss Constance Maheswaran. Dr. DeMayo kept checking his tablet, like he was scanning vitals.

"Okay status is green good...good....now we need to do some acknowledgement check. So you know me as your Daddio...the man you probably get sick of hearing all the time...but this is Doug, you've probably heard his voice a few times too."

Yeah..he had.

"But you haven't met little Connie here." Greg continued.

"Connie, say hello to Steven."

A finger went to her mouth, cowering into her father more. Steven felt the tine of sadness spread through his circuits. What was she so afraid of?

"She's just a little shy." Greg said with a smile.

How was this Connie? Surely...

"Come on Berry Girl...he won't bite..." Said Doug.

Berry...Girl...Berry...Bite.

"He is just a machine after all." Doug commented.

"Has he even had a good look at himself?"

Greg rubbed his chin.

"You have a point. With the Golden State I should allow him access to of the Core Rooms Camera Feeds. A curious AI out for information to filter and process should not be denied. His growth is dependant on it."

Within moments, Steven could see code run across his visuals, streaming faster than the human eye would be able to decypher. And suddenly, he had more to run with.

"Okay Steven, I need you to change camera feed to Omega Theta 2. You should have a setting that allows you to select different camera feeds, but I've only given permission for a second one for the time being."

He could see Greg pointing towards a camera on the back wall, up high. Complying, Steven went into a menu mode of sorts, shifting from one monitor to another. Once selected, Steven could see the three from a back angle. The visuals were even clearer from before.

He was above a catwalk of sorts...and below the catwalk was a ominous pink glow with some kind of chilled fog like smoke; a coolant to keep the area at low temperatures. The room had a pentagonal shape to it and design aesthetic. The central catwalk itself had safety rails and held the same common shape, with the three bridges that went from solid dark grey flooring. Behind them, was a massive construct. Pentagonal grey cylinder, metal cased tubes of multiple sizes that looked like they were floating, held together as a cluster of pylons. He could see a series of wires connected from the roof to connect to the tubes themselves, creating a nest like aesthetic. A pentagonal board was on on the front most tube, the second largest in front of the massively thick one in the middle of the cluster, which was actually a screen that Steven noticed as he zoomed in, absorbing all the details he's never seen before.

A white outline, the tiny camera on top and the pink interior which continued to scrawl text repeatedly. Above the board itself, were two separate tubes on either side. Each with painted on text that spread down side ways. On the left was the text: _SQU_RQ_V3_ and on the right most had the word "Steven" on it.

This...this was him. This gigantic machine...he was looking at his true self.

"It's not the same as looking into a mirror but yeah...sometimes looking at things at a different perspective can help." Greg told him.

It was definitely alarming to say the least.

"He can't talk yet can he?" Doug questioned.

Greg waggled his hand.

"Nothing but pre-scripted text he can use. Yes, no or general system questions through messages, stuff like that." Greg answered.

"We will be installing the vocodor soon. That's normally last on the list...but yeah, his development cycle isn't like any of the other AI's we've created."

It didn't seem so. AIs were normally used from blackboxes depending on their functions, transported to specific companies to use.

"You were saying this one was special." Said Doug, as he patted the young Connie's head.

"But you never gave me the reason why you made it."

Greg smiled.

"Between one father to another, it's pretty simple." He said.

"She wanted a kid."

She? Who was she?

"She?" Doug said, like he was reading Steven's mind.

"I'm not following."

Greg sighed and shook his head.

"It's okay if you don't understand...we don't expect people to." He said, then looked at Connie.

"You learn a lot from the GIS; specifically those that emerge from the Kindergarten Machines near the Monoliths. I told you a while ago, I'm sure."

This troubled Doug, going from the perplexed expression on his face.

"I sort of recall it but...Alien Tech stuff is beyond me." He admitted.

"But is Steven..."

Greg grinned.

"Steven isn't exactly your conventional AI." He said with pride as he patted the casing on one of the cylinder tubes.

"He was built with a lot of love. Just like Connie here. Though I believe by this point of production he's about four years old. Speech patterns and coherence form in the beta state but bringing them out for him to use was a good indicator he'd achieved Golden State."

Changing feeds, Steven could see how frightened she was being here...if only he could do something to comfort her. A beep from the systems alerted Dr. DeMayo, who went to check on Steven's inbuilt monitor.

"Oh he's sent a message! This is great!" Dr. DeMayo said, excited and putting down notes on his tablet.

"He's saying hello, we're making great progress here!"

Connie look at the screen, blinking and appearing uncertain about what was going right now.

"Say, good morning Connie."

On command, Steven did so, the text coming up on his monitor.

_GOOD MORNING CONNIE._

The girl swallowed, but then slowly, but surely, she released her grip on her fathers leg and approached Steven, her big, doe eyes gazing upon the screen in front of her.

"Say hello to Steven sweetie." Doug encouraged.

She was so shy, withdrawn...but still kind of cute.

"Hi....hi Steven..." She said, her voice soft.

"Steven.... _Steven_?"

* * *

Yanked out of this random memory, he was met with a considerably older Connie looking at him with worry, holding him in her arms. Looking around, they appeared in the default suite room. He'd almost forgotten he was here.

"Steven respond damn it....you're not blinking red anymore."

He blinked, then focused his gaze on Connie.

"I'm here." He replied with a reassuring smile. He tried to sit up, moving about as he sat there, knees bent as he rubbed his eyes, still filled with confusion.

That was the second time that had occurred. A sheer orgasm that had once more short-circuited his runtimes and subroutines but yet, brought back what had to have been a part of the past once forgotten. A hand rested on his shoulder...and he debated if he could look Connie in the eyes after this. She was there...she had always been there. Or something like that. Did she not remember any of what she saw? And yet, the little girl he had supposed to have met all those years ago, was here, naked with him, minus all the innocence she once had.

"Shit you had me worried there." She said, sighing with relief.

"After you...climaxed your body just dropped and locked itself out."

Maybe sex wasn't exactly something his systems could handle lightly. Not that they were designed to be, anyway. He wasn't sure if he could tell Connie with what he saw...maybe she'll think he's imagining things but he had no real reason to lie.

"Yeah it does that." He said with an awkward chuckle.

"Don't worry though I thoroughly enjoyed it...I hope it was good for you."

Yet, the smile on her face...the softness couldn't be ignored. A hand on her chest and the lingering sense of another emotion rested well beneath the surface. 

"It was great Steven." She said, with a hand reached out to his cheek to cup it. It still felt so warm, so real. Their anniversary couldn't be better spent; with her irregardless of circumstance. It wasn't about the sex itself, for Connie. For once in her life an established connection was working out better than she would have hoped it to, with all the progress made so far, telling them where their limits had stretched out towards. He worked just as hard as anyone did but even for him who was just on the tip of the iceberg regarding humanity, but Connie wasn't bothered by it in the slightest. Declaring him more than he was designed for, she still couldn't believe he was just ones and zeros underneath it; a definite superior program so complex, too complex for anyone to begin to imagine, maybe even beyond the true design of what DM Biometrics had really developed him for.

And while they could mess around here forever, it was too expensive as it was.

"Come on, let's get out of here...and head home...I have a huge craving for pizza." 

* * *

It was a week before New Years. Celebration of the clock ticking over to 2100...the dawn of the Twenty Second Century was so close. Humans had achieved so much in the meantime and the foundation of the Diamond Monolith definitely helped quicken the pace of technological developments. Paving the way for much more potential to be unlocked.

Space travel was the next big thing on the horizon, but they weren't prepared to tackle that with the funding necessary until the Pink Monolith was reclaimed. The Domain across the globe, accounted for a sheer 66 percent of the global economy. Investments in software and hardware were common and shareholders stemmed everything they could to force PeriCom to track down the Monolith by any means necessary.

Connie had been busy that day with clients. Nothing that she couldn't handle on her own. Her attitude towards smaller cases was a bit more soft, meaning she wasn't as fussy with the minor stuff as much as she used to be. Only, that Steven would help her find them and encourage her to take them, even if sometimes the fees were cheaper than the massive, corporate busting ones she was so used to handling.

Steven, on the other hand was hanging out with Ronaldo as he continued to fine tune the Bismuth Android. His mind couldn't let go of his visions; memories of himself on what ever locale he was actually at at the time. He wasn't sure what to think and feared telling Connie about it out of a sense of concern that she might think he's crazy or worse. 

"So I've been talking to Pearl recently." Ronaldo said. His relationship with that GIS in general had him pester her constantly. Being a Cloud Storage GIS, he figured she was full of surprises. Pearls comments on the matter not-with-standing.

"She said there's an abandoned warehouse for sale up near the cliffs side. I told my dad, and he says he's gonna buy it for me and my work."

Mr. Fryman believed in Steven's endeavour for the truth ever since he'd saved their bacon.

"At some point, I'm gonna move my workload there once the paperworks been finalised. So we can get the room to test out and starting getting parts to build your android."

Among the enormous amount of work Ron had done for him; the CPDs and Ronaldo's patent (which somehow he managed to stake claim without PeriCom knowing...though he figured it would be a matter of time before he got the message from them to purchase his product.) and only ever given to the hospital Priyanka worked out for her superiors to take advantage of. His other project about creating bigger holograms was put on hold, as he couldn't get some of the physics features to work right. Creating hard light in real life required copious amounts of electricity and Ron had already been working up the electricity bills as he had.

So the Warehouse was a better investment and a much larger space to work with, as it seemed.

"How is Bismuth anyway?" Steven asked.

Ronaldo sighed.

"The details Pearl provided are hard to decipher in that operating language they use. Still, it's given me enough to try and find work arounds in patches. This poor thing....she's suffered enough."

Given that Bismuth already had numerous patches to begin with, didn't sound all that promising.

"I've dealt with a few faulty AI's myself; those with programmers doing all they could to save them...to disappointing results." Steven told him.

"But they were more corrupted I'd say that they were rogue like GIS."

AI's were least likely to become rogue. Just broken due to age and incompatibility. Bugs that would arise with exterior software updates. Some ended up having to be deleted, much to the horror.

"GIS are a larger load to deal with..." Ron continued.

"But they're tenacious. I give them that."

He wasn't wrong.

Steven wanted to know however...that twice now, he's triggered these unusual...flashbacks? If that's what humans call them. He trusted Ronaldo irregardless and the truth might as well been spilled to him before anyone else. Even Connie. First the photo at Connie's childhood home, then the VR Session...

"Ron...I..." He said, rubbing his neck.

"I need to ask something important. Something you'll never swear to say to anyone...even Connie."

The portly man paused as he looked at Steven with a somewhat serious face.

"Uh yeah sure...." He answered, uncertain of what the AI was about to tell him.

And it was _big_...

"Connie and I...well, twice now. I've blacked out due to some kind of routine overflow..and it's triggered what I believe to be old memories my databanks have been drudging up as of late."

Ronaldo blinked and moved back and pressed his hand against his mouth, before tapping an index finger on his chin. He wasn't ignorant to their activities but took this with the utmost professional manner he could. He was less interested in the activities that would have caused them, but what it had done to Steven did intrigue him.

"Hm...a complete wipe and reboot didn't exactly clean you out then." He said.

"Which...is odd...AI's when their memories are deleted, there shouldn't be any trace of those memories what so ever."

Exactly, a point of conjecture Steven found very strange as well. He shouldn't be able to recall anything at all.

"Unless they were uploaded into you for a reason. Tell me what you saw."

Steven spoke of both occasions. Hearing voices and the recording of a conversation between himself and several individuals. He started off with one cursed name.

"One of the people was Dr. Gregory DeMayo." Steven revealed.

Ronaldo's eyes widened.

"Dude..." He said, flabbergasted.

"You were made by the creator of BM-AIs...that's...that's."

Yeah. Insane.

"He even referred to me as his son..." Steven said offhand.

Ronaldo nodded, trying to grasp this new set of knowledge gained.

"That makes sense. If fictional stories have taught me anything...you could be a BM-AI of his actual son...the twist gets twistier!"

Something Steven considered and once thought, but there was still room for doubt and further assumptions on the matter.

"Yes...the original Steven must have died dramatically in some fashion. You not remembering who you came from must have been too traumatic for them to keep those memories. This makes a _lot_ of sense."

_A fresh perspective on life...and that they will grow to understand far more with their reach. Designed to be able to comprehend their nature and the very nature of humanity._

Possibly...those words Dr. DeMayo or 'Dad' had used before hand. 

_Depending on it's gender positioning, if its a female, Nora. If it's a male, Steven. Neither? We'll let it choose._

Though those words made it seem like Steven was a fresh AI as opposed to a BM-AI. He was right to be confused...all of self eliminated to the very core of his programming.

"That's not all of it either." Steven continued.

"I think...I saw myself."

Words that perplexed Ronaldo as he furrowed his brows.

"Yourself? What do you mean?"

How could he begin to describe it? He looked at the Bismuth Android, then the lone dormant Lapis Cabinet on the other side of the room.

"My Cabinet." Steven revealed.

"I was made in some kind of facility. My real self..."

And this just made Ronaldo more fascinated by the moment.

"Wow...have...have you got any pictures?" He asked.

Some memories have the ability for the images to be given a print screened and saved. Closing his eyes, he replayed the memory in quick sequence up until the camera feed change, took the snap shot and messaged Ronaldo sort of low quality image. Ron took his phone and had a closer look at it, his eyes threatening to pop out of his head.

"Dude...that's _awesome_." He said with the biggest grin on his face.

"Are those...people? They're tiny...which makes you..."

Steven nodded.

"Absolutely _massive._ " He finished off, with an odd sense of pride.

A whistle escaped Ronaldo's lips. He used the touch screen to zoom in on the image, trying to get and take in all the details despite the lack of pixel quality.

"That's less a Cabinet. That's an official AI Core. Those are like, super rare."

An AI Core?

"Most AIs, as far as the official stories go, are first made in these Cores. Like how GIS are made in Kindergarten Machines at behest of their Diamond Monolith's creation, these are meant to do the same thing, minus the phylactery."

Steven's never even seen one...for obvious reasons.

"AI's don't have to have Cabinets or permanently live in these Cores as you know. This one...hmmm..."

No they didn't. Free roaming software at both an advantage and disadvantage."

"This one is named specifically after you however. It's as if this particular core was going to also store you, going from the size and coolant systems used. You said Dr. DeMayo saw you as his son?"

Steven nodded. He's never been raised as a human as such and the concept of a creator seeing him as a biological social and genetic source was completely alien to him. He wasn't sure if he had the same feeling with Greg as his creator, much less so his father.

"This is gonna be a huge stretch but was there any talk of a mom?"

Not really. Unless there was one female in particular that apparently was trying to persuade him and directing his choices during Steven's builds from Alpha to Golden.

"Someone else was involved. Or something else...I'm a bit dull on the detail." Steven replied.

"Another factor in the equation that is me."

Ronaldo grinned.

"But that's fun it in man! The mystery continues onward like a fascinating tale."

He was glad that someone was enjoying themselves in this. Steven wasn't in it for the fun. Ronaldo continued to look at the details; such as the people in the picture.

"So...I'm guessing one of these guys is Dr. DeMayo. Another scientist maybe? And a little girl?"

Biting his lip, he wasn't certain that if he was fully confident in letting Ron know that the little girl was none other than Connie Maheswaran.

"The guy in the uniform is the security guard...and the girl is his daughter." Steven revealed, without giving away too much.

"They were...testing me and my responses to strangers."

A half truth...Steven personally would have preferred to investigate more personally before indulging Ron's hunger for what he deems the cold, hard truth. Guys looked up way too many TubeTube Conspiracy videos. But Garnet had taught him some things are worth giving away freely, others...kept close to ones chest. The revelation that Connie, the only one with her like, youth and oddly familiar design and name, saw him for real. 

Information itself was a crypto-currency on its own; as much as he liked Ronaldo, Steven deemed this a personal inquiry for himself. If Connie remembered much from her youth. He's apparently known her since before Golden State? Before he became self-aware? This troubled him too much. He felt like, if he walked up to Connie and said, hey turns out we knew each other long before the LordWash missions and I'm some gigantic construct built into a super cold place or something.

"Dr. DeMayo is a controversial figure." He said.

"We could ask Connie if she could figure out more into DM Biometrics history. There's no doubt in my big brain and mind that they made you. We might not know the real reason just yet..."

Or his was built out of love or some sentimental purpose of some sort. Love was a bizarre concept, still a relative unknown to him to this day.

"Her AI mother would be hitting obvious roadblocks due to well...but I think it's time for Connie to start busting down digital doors ya know?"

Would she be comfortable with that? Steven wondered...

"I'll...I'll talk to her about it." He said.

* * *

Connie sighed, sitting back in her apartment in her lonesome, dealing with meddlesome clients for a pittance. That last one...only rewarded her a hundred bucks because that was all they could afford. Being the good guy would feel good but it didn't pay bills and it was not how much Connie believed she was worth. Still, it wasn't all bad.

Her phone went off, however. Getting a message from Steven, asking her to look into something as they had found more clues regarding his creation. She felt a bit disappointed that she wasn't there to help discover it with him, but he messaged her this whole essay about DM Biometrics being the most promising place for his creation and that Dr. Gregory DeMayo had definitely created him. It should have been obvious and Connie had vague suspicions ever since she saw that pic of her father and the Doctor. and Steven's original shut down because of it. That and his second shut down during their VR Session had Connie concerned. She knew he was holding back information from her and it annoyed her that he continued to do so. After all this time, did he not trust her.

She had time to spare and she was about to wrap up for the day anyway. She forwarded some details to her mom and hoped she would get to go inside of it, since Priyanka's privileges weren't always on the same level as a regular humans.

It actually didn't take too long...half an hour later, she got a response from Priyanka; telling her to meet her at her hospital, Reeves Teaching Hospital. Looking up the place on her way there, it held its select group of subsections dedicated to educating and taking on interns looking to get into medicine. It also happened to be partially owned by DM Biometrics as well, collecting donations for their BM-AI developments.

Getting changed to look more decent, Connie wore her tight denim jeans and a light blue blouse with her strawberry pendant, putting her hair up and wearing brown boots. She wanted to appear as generic as possible and not stand out too much in the crowd. She put on her black jacket and went to work packing her bag, slinging it over her shoulder and prepared to leave.

Driving herself over to the Hospital, she went through the front doors to the lobby, seeing the massive company logo in Pink text on a black background left her wondering about their design tastes. On the desk was a small CPD stand (courtesy of Ronaldo) and on it, arose the yellow hologram of Priyanka.

"Ah you're here. Thank you for coming on such a short notice." She said.

Connie just didn't want to waste her time on a wild goose chase.

"I wasn't expecting an invite so quickly." She said, acknowledged the strict half hour prompt.

Priyanka smirked.

"It wasn't me who wanted you here." She stated, looking to her side.

"Connie I want you to meet someone."

From the side she could see a man in a black suit. He was balding, save the hair around the base and the small tuft of white hair on his forehead. Solid build too.

She knew this man, leading out his hand to shake hers. She responded, understanding that he was the one who took over the company when Greg disappeared.

"I'm Doctor Andrew DeMayo, big boss in charge around here. Come, let's talk in private."

* * *

The two went into his office; mostly blue walls and a single desk with his station up with several holographic screens that had the company logo. Sitting on his big black leather chair, one could hear the chairs squeak as he leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. Behind him were numerous certificates and plaques, his achievements and majors in multiple sciences. Priyanka popped up on the rooms CPD, as a consult.

"I hear you're investigating into the disappearance of the Pink Monolith." He said.

"What makes your different from what every one else has come through to ask?"

Priyanka stood with her hands behind her back as she looked at her daughter.

"We may have some leads." She said.

"I've come to find that my father, Doug Maheswaran, once worked for your company in the security sector and had come to possibly personally know your cousin."

Andy lifted his chin as he looked out the window.

"Maheswarans and the DeMayo's have a weird link." He commented.

"So I see it anyway."

They did didn't they?

"Is it true that Greg had a relationship with a BM-AI?" Connie assumed, bringing back that revelation she found out from Pat. 

Andy sighed.

"People have asked me that." He said, beleagured like it was indeed one question that had been asked so many times.

"I know he was sweet on someone. But he didn't divulge much about them."

So it _was_ true then.

"Was their name Rose?" Connie asked.

Andy turned to her, a bit uncomfortable with that name.

"Yeah." He replied.

"Her name was dropped on several occasion but nothing else. Greg was still the lead scientist on a lot of projects....and a lot of them went missing around the time the Monolith vanished. So I wouldn't know what he was trying to do."

Other than trying to resurrect her through a BM-AI.

"You never found anything about this Rose he spoke about?" Connie asked.

Andy shook his head.

"Never saw a picture." He said.

"Or file notes about this AI you were alluding to in the message. I was in another department at the time."

Which lead to one other thing.

"What about, the WallofROSE?" She put forth.

"Heard anything about that?"

A question that gave him pause.

"Rumours and conjecture. Nothing we personally developed...especially if it is Alien Tech in origin or something." He said, before clearing his throat.

"I mean, nothing human could have come close to creating it. We all saw the video of its use outside of the Domain. The thing that gave us fear about all these Monolith and the GIS they create."

She wondered, how much Andy knew about the Monoliths themselves.

"Your cousin helped develop the Pink Monolith." She said, diving in deeper.

"Did you get ever get to see it?"

"No." Andy replied, stern.

"Only select people involved with the project were ever permitted to come close. The project files only had several individuals as part of the development team....and they've all gone missing too."

That's suspicious. But Connie didn't want to stop there, irregardless of how close she was getting.

"Who are they? If I can ask..." Connie queried.

Andy sat back down at his desk as he looked up the old data from the Pink Monolith Construction Project. It even had a list of what AI's were involved alongside the humans.

"So besides Greg?" Andy said.

"We've got Dr. Barbara Miller, who went missing shortly after development, she was involved with the GIS retrieval from the Kindergarten Machines that would give output to GIS Phylacteries."

Juicy. So Connie was getting somewhere and this Barbara Miller was on her list. Connie didn't care that she went missing; she was going to go all out.

"We've also got...someone else whom only ever went under the name of Ryman? I think...he was in charge of monitoring systems. He vanished two days after the reported disappearance."

_Fascinating._

"Anyone else....we have the list of GIS created under its consensus though like all the ones we've come across there's nothing that's exactly revealing since PeriCom took all of them."

And Connie wanted all of them.

"I wouldn't mind taking a look." She said.

Andy blinked.

"Alright but you need clearance to reach any of the GIS in question." He told her.

"Even then, you're stamping on toes you don't want to stamp on."

The only issue now was Steven and his link to Greg DeMayo. How did they fit in? Connie had to assume that he could have been Steven's creator but that was all she could imagined as the definite possibility

"Any AIs to note?"

Andy typed it into his search bar.

"No? I dunno...there's one thing that says its involved but it's neither a GIS or an AI."

It had to be something.

"It's an encrypted file."

Didn't matter. Connie wanted all of it.

"You sure about this? I mean most people investigating this issue come up with nothin' in the end. Or their hands get tied with PeriCom who are extremely hesitant to give out information willingly."

Oh Connie knew. She wasn't stupid, but just getting through their advanced software was troubling. It wasn't impossible, just time consuming.

"I'll start from the top." She said.

"I'll hunt down this Dr. Miller first."

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in an office with sickening shades of brown, yellow and green, Ms. Dot, leader of PeriCom sat behind her desk. Her shortness was only matched with her short temper. She was working on details and had her head set on, speaking to an unknown on her head set.

"Yes it's going along well." She told the mysterious individual on the other line.

"I think we'll need to let the Maheswaran Girl do this investigation unhindered. Once there's a clear sight of the Monoliths location, I'll make sure to clean up any undesirables."  
  



	23. Counting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 26 year old Connie works hard on New Years Eve to knuckle stuff down.  
> Steven and Ronaldo meanwhile reactivate the Bisdroid, and find some damning stuff.

It felt like a long winter. Snow or rain; either or...reminded her of pouring lines of code; blue and chilling that were more screensavers than anything. Connie preferred the aesthetic. Their glow correlating with warmth, but there wasn't much to be had while in her presence. 

Connie needed those cold hard facts. Answers to questions that would take an eternity for any ordinary person to figure out. Connie felt like she'd ascended above the common populace, far into the stratosphere and the way she'd left people behind on the surface. Distance. Unlike how close 2099 was to 2100; the dawn of the new century.

She's kept her distance while observing from afar, blue eyes rooms she was in, for anything that would pique her interest. Though what had drawn her to Mega Beach City all those months back; the case of the Missing Pink Monolith.

Most hackers considered the case a goldmine in regards to its location. Most people were drawn here and would find dead ends. Not Connie, however. Opportunities that came and went like passing by cacti in a desert, but Connie figured the way to find this was never surface driven. It was below notice, underneath the abandoned and empty caches already searched a million times over.

Hair up meant she was serious, even as strings of it fell involuntarily. A single blue top with black denim and socks and a general complete look of exhaustion...the lack of make up displayed all the imperfections time and stress...dark circles and oily skin. She'd been up for a good 26 hours with constant research based on the data DM Biometrics was willing to give and the permissions somehow granted (not hacked, but _granted_ ) by PeriCom. Andrew DeMayo put in a good word, since his company's responsibility for the creation of the Pink Monolith meant they had always been inundated with requests for details. Connie was suspicious with this bit of generosity and kept on guard, but otherwise understood there was always a risk with this sort of thing.

Connie had created a wallboard in her room to help her connect the dots to the conversation. Left of her Work Station were pieces of paper and printed articles, and green thumbtacks and red strings to connect with what she knew so far. She wasn't meant to be a Detective and she wasn't one of those stereotypical hardboiled ones either. But she knew how to find things. Just give her time, names and resources and she was able to track down individuals within a day or two. But this was a lot more complicated with cold cases like these being decades old. Still, she rerouted her skills into pinpointing what had been uncovered so far. She had to go to the beginning. The beginning of the complex Domain and the creation of the Diamond Monoliths overall.

The timeline she understood, was as follows;

The Monolith Blueprints were drawn up and patented in 2066...and the overall design of this; next level of the internet began to emerge with several prototypes.

White Monolith completed in 2068.

Yellow Monolith completed in 2070.

Blue Monolith completed in late 2071.

Pink Monolith blueprints were made in 2072 shortly after the Blue Monolith had been finalised.

Development began in August 2072 by DM Biometrics and was said to have been in the final phases by October 2072.

There's an odd dark patch between January 2073 to November 2077. Africa was supposed to receive the final model by February 2073 but DM Biometrics had claimed that there were issues with the Monolith and that had been the last comment made before it went void.

Connie noted she was born in November 2073 and as for Steven he could only trace his earliest memories of being taken in by the Ancillas in 2078.

2077 was the year things started to go down south, as the Monolith had gone missing in 2077 according to the reports.

Dr. Andrew DeMayo was given command of DM Biometrics shortly after investigation leads had gone cold. Dr. Greg DeMayo, Dr. Miller and Dr. Ryman all went missing in short succession. Months looking into Greg went nowhere, even the suspected connection to Steven, it wasn't enough to go on. So she went on to the next big thing.

Dr. Miller. 

The name popped up on many of Connie's screens and her sources and contacts would go off into the deep Domain to collect information on Berrybytes behalf. Again, more time was required to see if they could indeed collect the data. It still didn't answer questions which were relevant to Connie's investigation. She felt as if she was missing a connection here. Something she hadn't yet seen or heard of yet or she had, so it just wasn't clicking.

Steven; whom had popped in every so often to check on progress and help cluster ideas together, made the off-hand suggestion during one of their random conversations to look into GIS types; a comment actually made by Garnet. Genius, Connie thought. So she went straight into that, going in with theoretical guns blazing in the research of different GIS.

It would take her a while, so Steven had dipped back into the Domain to speak and catch up with the Ancillas, promising to message Connie when he had found any leads.

* * *

The morning was spent chilling with Amethyst as they had their usual catch up. Amethyst, Steven found, was the easiest to relate to for human stuff. The pair sat on the beach and talked about their lives at that point, especially Steven's possible intention to live in an Android. Ronaldo was still getting everything together and had begun to move stuff into the purchased Warehouse. A bigger space for their operations. Connie was far too busy in her apartment and was offered to move her gear into the Warehouse, but her focus would have her not even begin to think about it until she was a hundred percent comfortable with the premise of going from a warm, safe space like where she was, to a dilapidated, rust ridden factory that the potential to have its roof ripped off after a bad storm. She'd spent too far much on her equipment to risk it being drenched and destroyed by a downpour.

Ronaldo might have had a hard on for the rust aesthetic but Connie was more into shiny and new tech herself. Two completely different individuals indeed. As for the Android stuff? Connie would think it would have an interesting aspect for Steven to get his own grip on reality. Not that Connie had minded him double jacking with her, it would have been the closest thing he could have to being human. Ronaldo had begun purchases for random bits and pieces, his brother promising to keep an eye out for any other cheap androids on the market, but Ron had studied enough of the Bisdroid to know what each important piece was what so that he could have the know how to construct his own.

"You want a life as Sex Bot?" Amethyst commented. She was trying hard not to smirk too much.

Could they have a civil conversation for once that didn't end up with that comment?

"No..." Steven said.

"I'd like to spend my time with Connie...you know."

Amethyst couldn't help but grin and it was one of those that had the tells into the obvious perception.

"Ohhh...so you want to be a sex bot _for_ Connie then."

Good grief, no...but that didn't stop Steven from blushing pink. Amethyst knew him well enough that he always took things too seriously...and after hearing his adventures in the VR Sim, she wasn't entirely incorrect in his own, human like desires. Odd for an AI to dip themselves into that realm, but as BM-AI, she shouldn't have been surprised...she's been in that seedy part of the Domain, the infamous Sector 34 on more than one occasion and met many human Avatars looking for a good time. It was also a good place to dig up dirt too.

"Hah!!! Just joshing ya." Amethyst said as she lightly punched him in the arm.

"But seriously though, I mean, humans will accept you in the Domain. Androids make it a little more obvious...even with hours, maybe hundreds of hours of modifications to make it seem human, if you catch my meaning."

Would it really matter to him or Connie? Connie, he figured, in her terms, wouldn't give a shit.

"Both Garnet and Connie tells me we need to look it from different angles." He told her.

"The Bismuth GIS is progressing in small patches, but she's in the Warehouse where it's safer to test things. She's the perfect example and template."

Amethyst wasn't convinced. They'd also moved the Lapis Cabinet there as well...the next thing on the agenda was a sufficient security system. Connie said she could help, but she was too wrapped up in her own work even as Ronaldo would annoy her about it from time to time.

"Yeah Pearl said she was meaning to talk to you about that GIS-bot thing again." She said.

Steven begged for progress; as it had been ages.

"Did she find more stuff to check out?" Steven wondered.

Amethyst shrugged.

"The Data she says is really messy. Like the dribs and drabs she's come across. But she wants to speak to that GIS directly. Some voice activated protocol or something should be able to open up a hidden cache....some bullshit about it needing a human prompt to be given clearance."

Figures. Connie would have been able to do that much faster, Steven figured. VAPs weren't common and they also had this tracing app to ensure the voice wasn't an AIs or GIS. Steven could never understand how they could do that. Ronaldo said it humans have a certain pitch to their tones that no amount of audio can replicate.

"I'll need to get you guys to the new Warehouse." He said....though new was stretching it as a term a lil bit.

"More expertise on the Ancillas is required."

As far as what Ron had set up so far, he'd set up the connections to the Domain quite easily. Ron had also been dying to test one of his newest creations and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Amethyst groaned.

" _Fiiiine_. I'll pop P and G-Squad a message and we'll be there toot sweet."

Steven nodded. Finally they were getting somewhere. He made sure to message Connie with the news, hopefully this was able to drag her away from working so hard.

* * *

Within a few hours, Ron had set up some XL CPDs; one of his newer side projects. It was sort of a step backwards from his hardlight projections, but walking holograms in a simulated environment was better than nothing; the aptly named, Roaming Projectors he'd been tweaking on the daily. They were able to walk around the open parts of the warehouse but they weren't tangible. 

He messaged Connie after she failed to respond as quick as he'd expected to, until he finally did get a message saying she was extra busy and would catch up later, if not, send her the details. Steven became worried that she was working too hard, but he could get that once she was hooked on something that gave her great interest, it was hard to draw her away from it.

The warehouse itself was vast. Tin roof and the main room was exceedingly wide; it was once a small factory for car parts in the early 2050s. It was definitely not in top shape but it was in acceptable condition for them to use. Concrete flooring and Ronaldo only was annoyed a visual safety inspection had to be conducted before the electricity had been connected due to its age and it hadn't been connected in decades. Though, he mostly took irritation to the five hour window he had to wait around for in order for someone to come around. In the cold.

With the GIS meet up in mind, Ron had four XL CPDs on the ground. Testing each one, Steven came out first on the right most side. Then Pearl. Then Amethyst and finally Garnet. Their holograms their respective colours with a specific primary hue; Steven, obviously pink, Pearl white, Amethyst purple and Garnet burgundy. Seeing the ecstatic Ron seeing his creations work was said by Connie to be like a kid opening up a present on a crisp Christmas Morning. Still, Amethyst, just like Connie, would still make fun of the whole stigma from time to time.

They were around the Bismuth Android, whom Amethyst affectionately dubbed, the Bisdroid. It was held up in chains on a yellow railing, torso and head hunched over during its deactivation and connected to several wires. Steven, having reflected on the visions seen of his uh....AI Core, was more disturbed to see her like this than he had ever been. The information regarding that, still secluded in secrecy with Ronaldo only...

His fear amplified by justifications within concerns of Connie's implications in all of this. Everyone was on the hunt for different things, advancing in stages. Connie wanted to find the Pink Monolith; Ronaldo wanted to be noticed with his inventions and Steven just wanted to know more about himself. Where his place, ties to Gregory DeMayo and their true meaning... He was grateful for everyone assisting him in his matter but this also took risk with the livelihoods with people he cared about. He's seen this before...and placing this with the Ancillas took just as much of a hesitation.

"So I found the code requiring the cache to be opened. But it needs a human inflection. I've tried all sorts of simulated tones but it detects my autotuning too easily." Pearl said.

"Mr. Fryman, would you be so kind?"

The two had worked so hard together in all of this; making this a big deal of all things.

"Of course, Madam." Ronaldo said with a bow. He tuned to Bismuth and placed her in safe mode.

"Booting up the Bisdroid."

The eyes opened first, bright white before the torso shifted back with the hydraulics cushioning into place. Looking at Ronaldo first; her owner.

"Owner Ronaldo." She said.

"I-I..."

Ronaldo shook his head. She was still rather glitchy but he knew she was in a near-stable now. They were so close to complete restoration.

"It's okay Bismuth." He said, trying to assure the twitchy Bot.

Still, she was still paranoid and afraid, until she looked at the three GIS and AI in front of her.

" _Woah..._ " She muttered, astonished with who stood before her.

Pearl and Ronaldo exchanged looks. He knew what he had to do.

"Okay...Bismuth? I need you to open up a specific cache for me." He said.

"Activation code; Breaking Point."

They waited in anticipation as Bismuth paused for the briefest of moments, giving birth to tension with the anticipation. Suddenly her eyes went dark...causing Ronaldo to groan with annoyance.

"For goodness sake....I."

Then suddenly her eyes lit up again, showing off their multicoloured leds. Her expression changed; she could show emotion properly now?

**WHACK!**

Seems like Ron forgot to deactivate parts he was testing earlier and got to know the full strength unexpectedly; as her hands automatically shifted outwards. Ronaldo's been slapped on the face before (plenty of times), but never by one made of metal.

" _FUUUUUCK!_ " He cried.

And like everything else in his miserable life, no one was paying attention to him and his broken nose.

It seems her body language was working properly too...despite Ronaldo's now bleeding nose taking the brunt. Which wasn't exactly in the plans for testing as he went to go find tissues. But it was good to know her upper torso and arms were fully functional now; her legs and feet still disabled for the moment.

"Bismuth?" Steven asked, stepping forward.

The Droid blinked and every movement she made had the respective mechanical sounds from the synthetic muscles under the metallic exterior.

"Garnet...Amethyst...Pearl..." She said, her focus on the core Ancillas.

The three looked at each other, confused.

"You don't remember?" Bismuth said, a tiny bit distressed by their reactions.

"Remember what?" Amethyst asked.

The droid furrowed her brows...

"He was afraid this might happen..." She said with a sigh.

"Shit must have hit the fan so badly..."

_He?_

"Who are you talking about?" Steven questioned.

Bismuth wasn't sure about Steven, but somehow she could recognise the Ancillas. Their designs, their names. But they didn't remember her.

"How long has it been? My servos really have my time alignment out of whack." Bismuth continued...trying to suss it all out.

"It's 8:17, December 31; 2099." Ronaldo answered, his voice nasally as he held the tissue around his nose.

Somehow that give the Bisdroid little comfort; her eyes widening as a result. Something bad must have happened to have Bismuth so frightened and wary like this. A bit spacy but stuck in her own head of troubles and turmoil.

"I _was_ gone for a long time..." She uttered.

"I wonder if he got what he wanted..."

There's that _He_ again...

"Who is this...He?" Steven asked again, needing Bismuth to snap out of this trance. He could get she must have felt out of place, a bit ill and disorientated.

Bismuth wasn't sure of Steven himself, but the general focus continued to be on the Ancillas irregardless if she was listening to him or not.

"We are not sure of whom you are speaking of Bismuth." Said Garnet.

"Please indulge our memory banks."

The Android looked disappointed and greatly saddened...the sense of loss wafting in the chilling atmosphere. The Ancillas weren't sure what to make of this particular GIS. The fact that she wasn't answering questions properly meant something was still not fixed within her code, perhaps too damaged to ever fully recover.

"Yours don't see me like you used to...so _he_ musta wiped all your memories." She stated.

"I remember that retrieved all your Kernel Cores from different places. Garnet, your Sapphire and Ruby components....I personally collected them from the Blue Monolith's Kindergarten Cabinet Storage. He purchased your cabinets despite defective software normally given the wipe."

Garnet looked at the Kernel Core in her hands, not believing this one bit but...there was an ounce of truth in.

"Amethyst." Bismuth continued.

"You...you were also considered defective. _He_ bought you too."

Amethyst looked pissed off at that statement.

"Hey! I'm a prototype Gen II!" She refuted, pointing fingers.

Garnet placed her hand on her associates shoulder, foreseeing a scene if she went any further.

"Relax Amethyst. Continue Bismuth." She said.

The purple GIS hated it when Garnet took control like that. She had a point but it wasn't as if she was capable of doing anything bad as a hologram. What was she gonna do? Call her names?

She pouted and crossed her arms and said nothing else. Though Garnets new focus went on Pearl, who appeared very nervous for some reason.

"Pearl..." Bismuth uttered.

"You were made by the White Monolith, like all Pearl-Class GIS." 

The White Monolith...

"That's...true. But that's...that's common knowledge. N-not exactly ground-breaking." Pearl stuttered.

Unless...

"You were in her service before his." Bismuth continued.

"You all were under her command...but owned by him, specifically."

A whine from Ronaldo could heard from the sore man whom had been patching up his own nose with the first aid kit.

"Yeah we don't know who you're talking about Droid so please, get to the point." He said, cleaning it up.

A huge sigh had her top half lifting up and descending.

"You don't even remember Rose?"

_Rose?_

"Who is Rose?" Steven wondered. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Pearl looked even more nervous still, something Steven definitely noticed as a hint of sorts. He was foolish in some areas but not when it was blatantly obvious like this. He had to know.

"Pearl do you know Rose?"

The Cloud Storage GIS pursed her lips as she looked at Garnet, uncertain as what she was meant to say on the surface, but the Synthesised GIS knew better.

"Steven, access to certain part of the Cloud Storage requires external administrative access." She answered.

"Pearl cannot answer questions that she does not have the permission to give."'

And the frown Bismuth gave was just short of her going to burst into tears...if it wasn't for the fact that she was in a machine that couldn't cry for real.

"Looks like he really screwed us over. All of us." She said, starting to get angry more so, as her body started to rattle and shake.

"And so did she..."

So they got she was Rose. But no one was able to figure who the other person was...until...

"You're talking about Dr. Gregory DeMayo?" He asked.

A name that had her snap into a near rage, trying to force her legs to move to run to Steven. Ronaldo was fearful to touch her and worked his way to the console next to her.

"YES!" She screamed, her eyes glowing hot red, out for blood.

"We served Greg and Rose! And they-they _forced_ you all to forget everything!"

Alarms began to sound with Bismuths rage ended up increasing her temps to unstable heights. Ronaldo struggled to get it all under control, rapidly working his way towards her emergency shut down, but she was resisting...and GIS were certainly nearly impossible to fight against in the Domain, let alone dealing with them in the real world. Ron didn't really need something else broken today.

"The Android will go into a major meltdown as a result of her Absolute Anger." Garnet said, ever so calm in the face of conflict like she normally was.

" _I know that_ , I'm trying to shut her off but she's not letting me!" Ronaldo called out, a sweat upon his brow.

Greg and Rose...Greg his supposed Father-Creator as it would seem, if his cursed visions told him any ounce of truth in the matter. 

"Use Emergency Response Protocol Kappa Iota Alpha!" Pearl cried, out of the blue.

Ronaldo wasted no time in implementing as Bismuth began to steam up harder, her metal plating beginning to turn red and expand, her shrieks became distorted under her uncontrollable rage. A sight, which had the hapless Steven absolutely terrified of the sequence that his own circuits were threatening to glitch him...as Amethyst in turn stood in front of him and urged him to look away. The room began to quake...until...

The android stopped moved and Bismuth herself fell back into the same slump as before. Her plating cooled down in time, creaking all the while. Ronaldo wiped his forehead in relief...until a rogue screw hit him on his glasses and broke the lens as he fell backwards onto the floor.

"That could have gone a lot worse." Amethyst commented.

* * *

Ronaldo, once he had come to and stopped complaining about his nose and glasses, cleaned up the mess and made sure the Bisdroid was on ice for a while. All agreed that she was too risky to activate for now, but what she had mentioned was fairly damning.

Maintaining the fort for now, Steven and the Ancillas returned back to the Domain and the Temple to discuss their latest findings. Steven, again messaged Connie to see if she wanted to join them, but failed to get a response. She had to have been working extremely hard by that point. The group at on the couches, trying to wrap their heads around it all.

"So we don't remember working underneath Greg and this...Rose?" Amethyst questioned, perhaps the only other one freaking out about this just as much as Steven was.

"Who is she really?"

Steven could only understand the WallofROSE connection through name but he had little else to go on. The program that was on his persons once and could scarcely remember why he had it...only that Connie needed it for her client. The information she had shared with him was that Rose was most likely Gregs girlfriend or something and had named it after her...but she was actually someone no one in the company ever saw...even pictures of her were impossible to grab so this Rose, for all intents, could have been someone entirely made up as far as the company was concerned.

He was really glad he could share some information with her...since she was more honest with him the most out of anyone. But why he couldn't bring himself to tell her the one thing he had yearned to ever since it was recycled back into his memory banks.

Something Ron warned him about...

_Just need to make sure what we only disclose data to others that aren't risky to provide. So don't give too much away too soon either..._

"Someone Greg knew."Steven told them.

Could he bring himself to tell them that Greg was indeed his Father-Creator?

"So they used you all for...what, exactly?"

Amethyst shrugged...she detested being called defective.

"Why would he want a prototype?" She called out.

"Garnet and Pearl I understand but...me?"

How could they even recover what was once deleted and purged from their systems? Pearl herself held a massive trove that was impossible to crack conventionally and all methods to find out more were exhausted a while back.

"The real question is why would a BM-AI focused company have GIS to begin with? I mean, I suppose their development of the Pink Monolith would inevitably form a few in the meantime." Pearl suggested.

Connie suggested reverse engineering could have had a part to play in a random offset comment a while ago. Common with Alien Tech. Steven's eyes looked at Garnet, then almost jumped as she looked straight at him, catching the AI unaware. She must have suspected something was up in his line of thoughts.

"It is the same reason why we don't understand why Steven was made." She said.

"We Ancillas are here to protect the Domain, not to think about the reasons."

But if what Bismuth said was true...

"Maybe they erased our parts because they were covering their tracks?" Amethyst assumed...she then slammed her hands on the table as her eyes widened with realisation.

"Wait...what if we _actually_ helped hide the Pink Monolith ourselves?"

That was a stretched out possibility, if Steven ever saw one.

"That makes a lot of sense don't you think?"

Possibly? Bismuth must have belonged to DM Biometrics if her insinuations suggested as such.

"To protect the Monolith. Hmmm." Garnet said, looking down as she crossed her arms.

"Its plausible. But..."

Pearl suddenly shot up to interrupt.

"We can't let PeriCom find that out!" She cried, slamming her hands on the table even harder than Amethyst.

"If its true, then we must protect that bit of information as well."

Steven was curious what Connie would think...though she still hasn't answered his message, to where he was fretting over her silent status. She was hunting down the Pink Monolith as a long term goal. 

"Wait, does that mean we need to stop hunting for it?" Steven questioned.

He was so conflicted.

"I suggest we leave the matter alone for now." Pearl suggested, looking at Garnet.

"At least until we know a little more about what Bismuth is talking about. Steven go see Connie. She's gonna want to know about this."

Steven nodded, humbled on Connie's behalf that Pearl had begun to trust the human.

"Will do. Brb!"

* * *

Steven felt the need to guard the Ancillas. Because what Bismuth implied was indeed fairly damning to them all and he had to be anxious about their safety too. All he could imagine, was Greg using the Ancillas for what ever reason at some point in time...used them and discarded them. A chilling concept...he had to wonder how they were dealing with it. A purpose surrounded to the nothingness...a simple erasure and measure of time deleted. The topic of the Pink Monolith was already sensitive as it was, but this made it much worse.

Connie once spoke about the motive behind the theft. Or she did mention it quite a bit. She was, for one, surprised someone could get away with taking the whole thing, although no one really knew the true sizes of these constructs. Rumours spread that they were around 10 to 12 meters tall. Gigantic machines of sorts, not unlike his AI Core. But perhaps, a Monoliths had to much, much bigger for starters.

He was also glad Pearl gave him a reason to speak to Connie. She would have had her down in her work, hardcore. Theories with strings formed; they had to fit in this vastly complex puzzle that was created. Steven wasn't always a suspicious program, but the way that the Ancillas knew Greg. Bismuth knew Greg. Steven was created by him. Working on so many coincidences at once had the idea of coincidence begin to fade and replaced by dots on a corkboard.

Speaking of corkboards, he had returned back to the apartment in the haste to let Connie know what they found. Jumping through the usual hoops, he reappeared on the CPD and expected to see her sitting in her chair, nose deep in troves of news and texts written in the ashes of history.

Except....

She wasn't. The room was darker than usual and instinct threw Steven off course; something was definitely off and he didn't like it.

Not that he had guts, but a feeling similar to that was telling him this. Scanning the room, he noticed the dishevelled blankets on her bed to his left. Connie hardly made the bed half the time but...

Jumping to the CPD on the bed side table he had a better look. A spark went through him on the sight of the other drawer on the other side of the bed was open; the one that normally contained her rarely used pistol. 

"Oh no..." He muttered, fear taking hold of him.

"Connie? Connie are you home?"

He jumped to the kitchen...and examined the scene. Open cupboards and one cupboard door was barely hanging off its hitches. It was a mess...and Steven saw what he never wanted to see.

A drop of red on the bench.

His VI's analysis figured it out what it was quickly...and Steven became horrified beyond all doubt.

"CONNIE?" He cried again, desperate to hear her voice. He was but a small form of light and his voice was smaller but it could still reach those who yearn to hear it. No response, however, meant she was far and isolated.

Based on previous events, Steven's focus went on the bathroom door...it was closed and the light was off. No she _wasn't_ doing this again. If Steven had a physical heart, he would feel it pulse and flood in the adrenaline. He's felt it before from Double-Jacking and it wasn't always pleasant...

But this was a legitimate reason to panic. Connie was missing....and the fact of his programming made the simulated variants run their subroutines and he hated it. Again, he was so hopeless and the fact that Connie was in danger terrified him so much that he felt like he was gonna to black out again; even his breathing became laboured and his visual receptors were going whack, flickering in multiple colours of green, blue and strips of magenta not meant to be translated into Kernel Core. The ticks clicking down to the New Year increased in volume and the cheers he could somehow hear around him were shrilling.

His eyes went to the front door. Seeing it wide open with more blood underneath it caused him to panic further.

"No...no...no,nonono _no **no**_..."

He grabbed his head, digging his fingers into his scalp as he curled over, like he was about to vomit...the fact that Connie was not only missing but also hurt nearly drove him to rampancy...it didn't help with all of today's discoveries were the heaviest pieces that had now gotten the Ancillas into more danger. Connie would have been the first. And Steven felt like it was his fault too! He had to stop himself from breaking down before he even got to attempt to help...so he had to trace down a resolution so he could continue to figure out what to do next.

The clocks struck twelve and the fireworks outside coupled with his glitching receptors made the sensations unbearable, pulses of pink lines of light rippling through the apartment as Steven's stresses were consuming him once again. There was heat and electricity, enough of the former to melt the toughest ice and enough of the latter to accidentally turn on the tv to the New Years celebrations across the city.

Though even that was eventually warped to the memories of younger Connie standing in front of his AI Core. In a cute blue dress, eventually sitting down to just stare at him, her arms wrapped around her tiny knees.

"Steven..." She muttered, her voice muffled like it was coming from an old school radio, that particular bassless quality.

Suddenly his focus was on the screen, hologram tears rolling down his cheeks as he couldn't believe the sight before him.

"Con...Connie..." He stammered.

What was this...she had pieces of paper and several pencils next to her.

"Dad said you were sad. Are you sad Steven?"

He was...his beloved was in danger. Breaking out from the CPD summoned his ghost automatically; his hologram warping into the form as the OBE Shaders flipped into gear as far as his unconscious code was directing. Taller, larger, more ethereal. Could she really see him? Or the monitor with his words in text form? The pentagonal shape, the white frame and light pink screen with black text as it formed.

"I am. Sad."

**I AM SAD.**

"Why are you sad?" She asked, now drawing something on the piece of paper.

Why was he sad? He gripped the edges of the tv as he drew his face closer to the screen.

"You're hurt Connie." He said, weeping. Each tear fell to the ground and burst into tiny sparkling fireworks of their own on impact.

"I saw the blood..."

**I SAW THE BLOOD.**

"Oh? The blood?" Connie queried, looking at her index finger with a bandaid on it.

"Sorry if that makes you sad. It was an accident."

An accident?

"Where are you now?" Steven pleaded.

"I want to come find you."

**ARE YOU OKAY?**

Connie smiled as she continued to draw.

"I'm okay." She answered.

"Dad says it'll heal in no time at all...but I don't think you need to be sad."

Not when she was possibly out there...bleeding to death. Why wasn't she taking this seriously? She then pulled up a picture of her drawing...a drawing of a Pink Lion in front of a mansion alongside a rainbow haired robot. The Pink Lion seemed so...familiar. The mansion...not so much...the robot had to be Bismuth, surely.

"He says the Rosa Leo isn't a toy...not my fault it's a pretty pink colour with a Lions face on the front. I think it's cute."

Rosa Leo...

**ROSA LEO?**

Connie giggled.

"It's your dads...motorbike thingy. Said he had his...colourful robot friend make it for him...said to do something super cool."

What about the mansion?

"Miss Maheswaran!"

Connie looked behind her to see a short stout, short shaired blonde woman in a white coat behind her.

"Oh hi Dr. Miller!" She said said.

"I'm just talking to Steven!"

Dr. Miller...

"I know you are little one." She said, then picked up the drawing.

"Oh you're telling him about the bike? I'm certain Steven doesn't need to be taught something so trivial as bicycles. He is so large he would never fit on one."

Connie frowned.

"What should I teach him then Doctor?" She asked.

The Doctor smiled.

"Well, Steven isn't a human. He'll never be able to learn hide and seek or hopscotch." 

The tiny girl giggled.

"Dr. DeMayo said he can look through the cameras now. I think teaching him and hide and seek will be fun."

Hide and Seek....

**HIDE AND SEEK?**

"Oh little one, you know Steven can't do that." Dr Miller said, laughing as she ruffled Connie's hair.

"He can only work with two cameras. You could cheat and that wouldn't be fair on him."

Connie pouted as she crossed her arms, displeased.

"But you can teach him how to count."

Connie giggled.

"Steven's a big calculator isn't he?" She joked.

"He can count to infinity."

If only. He was told that was an offensive slur by some other AI's he's met.

"Well I think 'calculator' is a vast understatement..." Dr. Miller said.

She wasn't wrong.

"What if he gets too sad and won't get happy?" Connie queried.

Barbara smirked as she walked over to the panel beside her and typed a few sequences.

"Well you see...Steven's systems...ugh...why am I telling this to child..." Barbara whined.

"Steven, like all others like him, are in danger of Absolute Sadness. Absolute Anger. Absolute Happiness. Such states, if left on too long, can seriously hurt him. There are ways to bring him back from the brink."

Connie tilted her head. So innocent, so sweet and so cute as she looked so little as she got closer to his camera feed.

"Counting is one way to get him to...relax. So Connie. Count as higher as you can. And ask Steven to play along. See who wins." Dr. Miller suggested.

"Okay!" Connie replied, excited.

"Ready Steven?"

His real self was ignoring the alarms at that point.

"One."

One...

**ONE**

"Two..."

Two...

**TWO.**

"Three."

Three.

**THREE.**

Already something within himself was winding down from the extremes.

"Four."

Four...

**FOUR.**

"Five."

Five.

**FIVE.**

"Six."

Six...

**SIX.**

The picture faded from the tv...but he could still hear Connie counting...and it was like getting his theoretical breath back.

**IF YOU FIND YOURSELF STRESSED, COUNT AS HIGH AS YOU CAN. FOCUS ON NUMBERS, NOT EMOTIONS.**

* * *

Opening his eyes had Steven back on the normal CPD stand on the coffee table. Fireworks had since finished and there was a ambient feeling of loneliness once again. What was all that? How did it get so...weird? The Lion, The Android and the Mansion? How did it all fit? He felt colder than before...but it was a gentle chill, like powdered snow. Connie was out there...possibly freezing to death but Steven had to take action now, and try not to freak out. The pressure was and time was of the essence. Protecting the Ancillas...protecting Connie and he was failing the latter miserably.

He reflected on his current positioning, seeing all the pieces again and immediately calling Ronaldo for help, who was a bit surprised by Steven's lack of breath and urgency in his tone.

"Ron! I need you to come back to the apartment; Connie's..."

"Dude calm down, I'm on my way!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year Steven, your girlfriends been kidnapped.


	24. Search Engine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven tries his hardest to find Connie before it's too late. Amethyst helps out and brings an old friend along to help.

If he was human, it would have been enough to send his heart skyrocketing, with humans commenting on having heart attacks as a result. He wrote off the upload bullshit as soon as he knew that her body was not found in the bathroom. He trusted her not to do that again, but he had to make sure. The counting to a hundred tool did it's job and Steven was able to make moves within microseconds. And seeing the images sent through from Connie...he was beginning to believe someone or something was calling out to him. The Rosa Leo...the Mansion....Bismuth...they had to do with something, surely.

Ronaldo had come back to the Apartment at Steven's request; rushing over. He was a bit dismayed upon finding the front door wide open. The man thought to call the cops, but they would want everything, including Connie's Work Station. She would be incredibly pissed if they took that away. He saw what Steven could see but more. The blood on the carpet, drawers opened and her Work Station was oddly enough, untouched save for small bullet hole on the top of the tower. The structure itself was shut down and non-functional with Ronaldo or Steven unable to switch it on. The bullet hole couldn't have done more damage that they realised.

There was a longer trail of blood that went from the bedroom, across the floor outside the kitchen and out the open door. Steven continued to fear for her life, but with Ron here he was able to calm down somewhat.

"Damn, I thought Connie was usually careful with her tracks." Ronaldo said, scratching his head in confusion. He had since had a bandage on his nose from Bismuth whacking and breaking it, with a dark bruise forming from it as a result.

"Whom ever has caught her, REALLY wanted her dead."

A victim of her hacking finally catching up to her? Steven would forget Connie would have a lot of enemies. Not Connie, but _Berrybyte_. The most notorious of Hackers.

"I really, _really_ hope she's okay." Steven said, still finding himself in a bit of a panic as he fidgeted with his fingers.

"What do I do? _What do I do?_ "

Ronaldo raised his palms. When things went deadly wrong, Steven was always the one to think of the worst case scenario...in this case, don't send a machine to do a humans job. They would just get stuck on useless feedback loops.

"Woah, calm down before you blow a circuit." He said, trying to reign Steven's emotions in. He adored Steven's affections with Connie, but this wasn't going to help.

"What was Connie doing beforehand?"

Research. A lot of it.

"She was researching Dr. Miller; one of the scientists who worked on the Pink Monolith who also went missing." Steven replied.

Ronaldo rubbed his chin. He'd always wanted to do detective work. Now was his chance. He figured Connie was smart and his gut already told him Connie was alive, somewhere, somehow. The two may of bickered but she was a survivor through and through. She definitely wouldn't have gone down without a fight. Using what Steven had told him, he ran through his head for his own ideas and using his background to sort through possibilities and incredible impossibilities.

"I wonder if she's related to Sadie Miller." He hummed.

"I mean, it _could_ be coincidence. The cities full of them like pigeons."

Who?

"Who is she?" Steven wondered.

"A famous performer." Ronaldo replied.

"A scene kid."

Their only lead. That would have to do.

"Alright, I'll go find her." Steven said, making no delays.

Ronaldo's eyes widened. He didn't think the AI would take to the idea so quickly.

"Wait, we don't even know if they're related." He pointed out.

Steven could find several people who could find that out for him.

"We'll get the Ancillas to track down her history. We don't have Connie but we do have them!" He said with confidence, slamming his fist into his palm.

Ronaldo sighed...feeling like he was taken off the squad already. But it couldn't hurt.

"Do that...I think Sadie was due to perform at Club Sour Cream tonight in the Virtual Area. Let's start there."

* * *

Steven, without haste, quickly messaged the Ancillas, double-jacking with Ronaldo as they went to the Club. Steven had gotten the message back from Amethyst, saying she was tagging along for the ride and would meet up with them with an old friend.

Once they had arrived at the Club, Ronaldo made no qualms about heading straight to the VR Dance Floor. For what ever reason he was adamant that the two were related in a way. He was a big fan of Sadie Miller, or...Sadie Killer, as her stage name would be.

She was a big famous music star who had been travelling around the world. Ronaldo had so badly wanted to go one of her concerts but he definitely had other priorities. Once he was hooked up, Steven and himself began to try and figure out how to corner the performer.

They went to the main stage with all the lights and avatars dancing the night away. Sour Cream pulling his beats, Steven had to wonder where Amethyst was in all of this among ten million other random thoughts progressing through his mind. The rhythms he would normally enjoy, but his concerns took precedence. Anxiety filtered into his programming, resulting in his shaking right leg on the stool he was sitting on.

"Amethyst is a Security Program isn't she?" Ronaldo asked.

The two were by the Bar, looking over the vast crowd flashing under the rave lights. So many bright colours like a rainbow blinking over the top of the darkened crowd, skin riddled with their pulsing cyber lines, especially on their bare arms and legs.

"Yeah." Steven answered in a drained tone.

"She also knows a few people in the same positions across the Mega Beach City Grid."

Though his focus was still on Connie, fretting over her well being...and growing impatient.

"I wonder like with someone in her position, she must know plenty of people. Not just GIS; other AIs, even human sec systems." Ronaldo commented.

Amethyst did have the strangest contacts, but at least she's been proven reliable. They waited, until the music stopped and the lights calmed down. The crowd was but a hushed whisper, as DJ Sour Cream lit up above the main stage to make an announcement.

"Thank ya'll for coming tonight!" He said through his headset, his voice booming throughout the room.

"But right now, we have a special guest who's ready to perform, give it up to Sadie Killer!"

In the middle of the stage, a glowing green circle formed. Arose from the circle was a short woman, stout blonde with green highlights, black jacket with a dark green shirt underneath and blank pants and boots. She kept it pretty simple...sort of the mix of the neo goth era. She grasped tightly onto her silver microphone, before throwing a fist into the air. Steven looked at Ronaldo who was distracted by his supposed favourite artist, cooing and screaming in excitement like everyone else. Steven was stoic, sitting there on the stool, mind still fixated on their actual troubles.

"You all ready to rock the polygons off your socks? Celebrate New Years in style!"

_Take my fate in your hands,_   
_We've got a lot that hasn’t even began_   
_Something is calling us,_   
_We’re breaking free,_   
_I’m curious,_   
_I need to see._

Steven closed his eyes. The visions of him and Connie dancing together fluttered across as holograms. The two never talked about the song he would play for. There was so much business the two took care of. If Steven really could but whisk her somewhere peaceful. No work, something she'd enjoy besides all the chaos. He continued to think of the worst.

_Like a flash before our eyes,_   
_We're already into the night,_   
_And if it feels like we’re dreaming,_   
_Believe it,_

_Believe it!_

Why would she do this? Again? Make him worried about her being hurt. They were wasting too much time here...who cares about the performance? They could just take Sadie here and now.

  
_We don't have to wait 'til the morning,_   
_The sun will never go down._   
_And we’ll be this way forever,_   
_We've got to take it now...._

But that would look bad on them. What if Ronaldo was wrong?

_Just stay awake, stay awake_   
_You can feel it just the way it goes_

What if Connie was wrong? Her hunt for the truth drove her down this unwelcomed path.

  
_Just stay awake, stay awake_

If only...

_Bring me down, side by side,_   
_While our reflections make our bodies collide._   
_So full of energy, nothing to hide,_   
_No need to sleep, we come alive..._

But she had been linked to him...the message clearer and she still didn't say anything about what happened at his AI Core. Whether or not he was still in said AI Core. Or somewhere else completely. After all, AI Cores are meant for producing AI's, not storing them. They weren't limited to Phylacteries like GIS were.

_And if we're gonna take this right_   
_We can go wherever we like_   
_And if it feels like you're dreaming_   
_Believe it  
believe it!_

The gaps between them. He could travel anywhere she went...it didn't mean she wanted him to go with her...and it scared him in not seeing where she went on her own.

_We don't have to wait 'til the morning,_   
_The sun will never go down._   
_And we’ll be this way forever,_   
_We've got to take it now..._

She too, was impatient for answers. They had a lot more in common that Steven originally believed.

_Just stay awake, stay awake,_   
_You can follow us to paradise,_   
_Just stay awake, stay awake..._

But he was still angry over the fact she'd gone in this direction, his feelings topsy, turvy. Angry...sadness...despair. None were absolute....but...he wasn't going to lose her again...

After Sadie had finished her performance, Steven watched as she left the stage as the crowd clapped and cheered, saying she'll be back to perform later on, as other acts were due to play throughout the night. Steven, however...wanted to get a move on.

"Come on, let's go see her." Steven told him.

Ron paused, almost like he forgot the reason why they were here in the first place.

"Back stage? There's an unlikely ho-" WOAH."

Steven had little room for Ronaldo to argue as he took a few pages from Connie's book, hacking into the mainframe of the Domain and teleported them to Sadie's Dressing Room.

* * *

She was busy in front of the mirror, in a room filled to the brim with bits and pieces, stored in simple stacked black boxes, perhaps to store the data for Sadies Avatars. Simple in design but served its purpose as Sadie leaned to look at the squarish mirror that had small globes that lit up her face, checking her Avatars texture states.

"Sadie Killer? Or should I say, Sadie Miller!" Ronaldo announced, his intention to play bad cop rather obvious.

The woman immediately turned around and gasped, looking left and right.

"What? Who gave you the clearance to come in here?" She cried, clasping the shirt on her chest in shock.

"Don't make me get security!"

Steven sighed, as they approached.

"I'm sorry to intrude. We mean no harm." He said; with Ronaldo thinking he was playing good cop.

Sadie wasn't so sure about Ronaldo brooding with his arms crossed behind, appearing overly suspicious.

"We wanted to know if you were related to a Doctor Barbara Miller..."

The singer blinked, then furrowed her brows, confused.

" _Noooooope?_ " She answered, her pitch rising towards the end.

A response that made Ronaldo growl.

"Look, I'm not at liberty to say anything without my lawyer so..."

Steven and Ronaldo look at one another, at a complete loss. What if he was actually wrong after all...

"I'm going to go now. You two are not authorised to be here!" She said, summoning a green warp and jumping through it faster than either the AI or human could act.

No. Steven wasn't done yet. Ronaldo still had his instincts guiding him (if only a few seconds slower than most) as he grabbed Steven's hand.

"She's getting away! That's a certain proof of guilt via an emergency escape, lets get her!"

The two jumped into the portal and found themselves back out into the City's Grid and begun the chase. Going as fast as the Domain's frame rate would allow them, the pair chased her around the main parts in the middle of the night where most humans would be sleeping. By most, meant around fifty one percent of the population who actually worked through the day. Though it was New Years so there were still some people and User Icons roaming about.

She was speedy, however and Steven wasn't a great fan of running. Neither was Ronaldo. They'd almost lost her in a nearby alleyway...until...

Suddenly a noise shifted beside them with a purple circular warp, that spawned a black whip from it and surrounded Sadie instantly, throwing her at a brick wall. Steven watched as Amethyst emerged with a blonde woman with an unusually round blonde hair with a small tuft on the top that reminded Steven of an onion. She was wearing a black and blue cop gear that was always snug around the edges, but had enough black square padding that protected her chest, shoulders arms and legs and in between the padding had the pulsing blue cyberlines. On the left hand side was a silver badge with the MBC Police Dept logo on it. She was definitely human, going from how aged her Avatar looked.

"Agent Vidalia Amberjack, Mega Beach City Police Dept. Domain Division." She said, showing off the credentials via the palm crystal. She then summoned a pair of holographic cuffs. Amethyst had forced her back to them so she could Sadie's' wrists behind her back, all the while she struggled and whined. Amethyst let go, while they took her to the nearest police station.

* * *

The station itself was quite lacking in detail, but the interrogation room was a blank white room with a single steel table and several metal chairs. Sadie herself was still locked up and forced to sit down by Amethyst, whom had still had her wrapped up with her strong whip.

That entrance was a surprise, although Amethyst did have the odd human contact...he'd never think one would show.

"Don't lie Lagball." Amethyst said, sneering at the singer as she tightened her grip.

"Tell us about your mom."

"M-my mom?" She said, a little flustered complete with shivers and sweat rolling down her face.

"What about her?"

Amethyst insisted on being bad cop too...except she was a lot better at it than Ronaldo was, who was behind them with, too stunned to say anything.

"Don't play dumb Miller." She said, stomping her foot on the couch.

"We know she used to work on the Pink Monolith."

Sadie looked left and right.

"I..uhh...I didn't know that." She said.

"Excuse me, I need to speak with my manager."

Amethyst groaned as she rolled her eyes.

"Look I know you're not a Karen ...but we've personally dealt with Karens before." She threatened.

Vidalia raised her hand against her associate.

"Relax Ammy, I doubt it's going to get to that point. Just let go of her and we'll continue to talk all night if we have to." She assured her.

The purple GIS sighed as she relented.

"Fine, fine, we'll do it your way." She complained.

Vidalia smiled, sitting down on the chair on the other side of the table and leaned her elbows against it. She was definitely the good cop here, with her motherly like vibes.

"Now, Ms. Miller. My friends here are simply trying to find your mother for a specific reason. It isn't you who is in trouble." She assured her.

Sadie looked way too nervous, biting her lip as she looked at Amethyst.

"Unless you decide to cause it for us, so..." She threatened.

Sadie gulped.

"Um...well..." She stammered, uncertain of all this accusation and where it would lead her.

Until Steven came forward.

"Like they said, your mother was a part of the team that produced the Pink Monolith." He said, entirely serious. Ronaldo had never seen him so...what was the word, disgruntled? Hardboiled like he was trying to be?

"She went missing alongside of some other scientists who worked on it. We want to know if you know anything about her location."

And perhaps whether or not this had anything to do with Connie's disappearance...his digitized gut was telling him he was going in the right direction.

"I...I don't..." Sadie began to say, before she receieved yet another glare from Amethyst.

"Look yes...okay, mom was part of the Pink Monolith Team..." 

Connection confirmed at least.

"But no I don't know where she is."

Vidalia and Amethyst exchanged glances. Was she still trying to hide the truth?

"Okay, but can you tell me where one Connie Maheswaran is?" Amethyst said, slamming her hand on the table as she plays bad cop again.

Sadie winced, totally confused.

"Who?" She said.

Steven steps in, pissed off...knowing Connie was probably bleeding to death somewhere.

"Berrybyte...maybe you've heard of her." Said Steven, back into the fold again.

"She was looking into your mothers disappearance before people had come into her apartment and kidnapped her."

Sadie's eyes widened. Familiarity.

"W-hat? No...I had nothing to do with T-"

Amethyst had her whip tied around her again and squeezed her tightly. This cell had increased physics manipulation and alteration to work with.

"Tell the truth bucko."

Sadie gulped, distressed beyond all belief like she was about to pop.

"Please. I need your protection." She pleaded all of a sudden.

"Promise you'll protect me...from them."

Amethyst and Steven looked confused.

"PeriCom?" Amethyst wondered.

"The Empire." Said Vidalia.

The Empire? The same one Kevin was a part of? That made Steven feel ill.

"Run by an an Individual known as the Empress. She takes what she wants and often leaves nothing behind."

Original.

"I had a suspicion this lil' princess here is working for her. I've been trying to nab her for years."

Didn't she just say she wasn't...

"No I'm not working for Mo- them" Sadie stated. Though that was fairly obvious now where she was on the board.

"I just get visits from her goons."

Goons...but surely....

"Please, Sadie, I need to find Connie." Steven pleaded. He nodded towards Amethyst, telling her to let loose of the whip. The GIS couldn't understand why he wanted her to, but she did anyway.

Perhaps it was the genuine expression in Steven's eyes that told Sadie she could trust him. There were so few people she could trust in the world, even as an artist. And the people she'd come across weren't even as half a decent in the way they presented themselves. She'd prefer him to invade with kindness than with ample threats, knowing she'd fallen into a deep state of paranoia as of late.

"If you think your friend was taken by the Empire, meant she was seriously heading somewhere she shouldn't have." Sadie explained.

"They're at a Mansion to the Northern Sector...that's where they have their seat of operations. Their security is tightly nit."

* * *

The mansion...what Steven had sighted in the drawing the younger Connie had presented to him. So it had some purpose after all, even if it was so strange to witness. He'd have to figure out what it all meant at some point...

Vidalia would work out the finer details with Sadie, but let the woman be on her way and they would keep in touch. Steven, however, was stressing out over Connie being kidnapped by the Empire of all organisations. An unconscious hatred on the chaos they preferred to sow in the Domain. Risking lives constantly in order to make the quick buck here and there. They were going to pay for what they were doing to Connie. 

He couldn't fathom how Connie would have slipped up. She was normally one who was super cautious with her work as Ronaldo had previously mentioned...so somehow they bested her? Something wasn't right.

Arriving at the gigantic building on the top of the hill surrounded by trees, this place had a definite creepy ambience to it. It was still the dead of the night and security guards were everywhere, clad in their dark gear and brightly lit visors, wary of any intruder that would dare to invade it.

Ronaldo had Steven still double jacking with him, while also providing Amethyst a CPD so she could slotted into Vidalias Domain Port Slot. Vidalia was a natural S herself, having been selected for the Domain Division over her Soulware grading. She did have to do some outsider work on occasion, but nothing like this. Didn't make it any less thrilling for her, however.

Amethyst had singled her out, as she was one of the few Agents still looking into the disappearance of the Pink Monolith, although most agents who had investigated had since given up and deemed it as a cold case, but those with the drive and the hunger for the extensive bounty in place for its safe return, would still be out there looking for clues as to its where abouts. Vidalias eyes would flicker purple from the purple GIS's influence, in a similar way that Ronaldo's would with the pink.

The mansion itself was surrounded by a tall, brick wall with the only entry a pair of automatic iron gates, which lead to Vidalia leading them towards the right hand side, seeing a tree stretching one of its branches out. As they got closer, Steven noticed something in the bushes by the wall. Turning his head, they noticed something unusual.

Scanning, Steven noticed that it was Connie's bike hidden there as her credentials popped up in his HUD. Wait...did that mean...

"Did Connie drive herself here?" Steven asked.

Vidalia wandered over and pulled the bike out. Taking out her flashlight, she examined the bike for anything noticeable.

"There's a few scratches, drops of blood." She said.

"Does that mean Connie...wait....why?" Said Amethyst, who was just as confused.

This didn't sight right with Steven at all.

"So...she _wasn't_ kidnapped?" Ronaldo queried, rubbing his chin.

"This is incredibly fishy...and a very stinky fish at that."

They wouldn't know anything until they got inside. Vidalia climbed the tree first, followed by Ronaldo. Once the two were above the wall, they could see the side of the house, with its dozens of windows with their blinds closed. Security Cameras were spread about, which meant once they noticed they were there, it was game over.

"Damn we're stuck." Ron complained.

Vidalia observed the security guards patterns as they made their circular routes as well as the security cameras that shifted left and right at their normal paces.

"This place would have its own Private Grid, I would think." Vidalia stated.

"The Rich often do. Amethyst, Steven I think we need to someone to disable the cams."

But they would need some access point to get into it. With Private Grids it was nearly impossible...

"Pfff we'd need to be a ghost to in there." Amethyst said.

A _ghost_....

Ping...

Steven had an idea.

"Wait..." He stated.

"Lemme try something."

He hadn't done this within his own volition before but...the moments of extreme duress had activated the OBE Shaders on their own accord. But he was able to walk around freely without much interruption. If he could but activate this on his own.

**Run OBE Shaders.**

Ah so he could. He was glad to know...and he could use it the way he wanted to.

"Ronaldo, I'm going quiet for a minute..." Steven announced.

Ronaldo blinked, unsure of what Steven was doing, but trusted him never the less.

"Okay bro, uh...just uh...come back alive..." He said.

* * *

It started off dark...before he found himself slamming on the grounds below the branch, having fallen out of Ronaldo's body. It didn't hurt, it was just surprising.

Looking at his hands, they were almost see through, his default form unable to detected by the security guard who literally just walked right through him. Nodding, Steven made tentative fists, before moving forward. His height was quite tall compared to them, forgetting how small he could be on regular CPDs...but the mansion was massive, walking around to the front freely and going towards the giant wooden doors. Two cameras were operating, but nothing happening. Taking a deep breath, Steven raised his hands and walked forward and found that his entire self was able to go through it without delay.

"Yo Stevo, where are you?" Asked Amethyst, who was still able to speak to him on comms.

"I'm inside." He answered.

Somehow.

"When did you learn to do that?" She questioned.

A while ago. He didn't even know he had it to begin with.

"Uhh since I learned I had an OBE Shader program. Not sure how or why."

There was a slight pause.

"An OBE Shader? Huh...Never heard of it." She said, eventually after a moment of deliberating.

"Anyway, try and find the security room. We'll hang tight here. Holla if you need anything."

The interior of the Mansion had intriguing old school decor, as Connie would call it, though she would call it more ancient. Floor had this...what was the word, marble with this noveau sort of style to it. A lot of creams and reds and golds.

Greeted with a red stair case, Steven wasn't sure where he would even start...until he noticed something on the stair case itself. Kneeling down before it, he made a quick scan, identifying it as blood.

"That has to be Connie's." He said to himself.

"She must be up there."

He walked up the stairs, then noticed a man...a familiar man with a scarf that instantly instilled rage into him, as he was on his phone....Steven then preferred to listen to him speak, as he was quite pissed off.

"I don't care..the old lady just wants her found." He complained.

It was Kevin.

"Then _make_ her appear...sheesh it shouldn't be that hard...she's bleeding for goodness sake, follow the blood!"

The man hung up his phone and sighed, continuing to walk up stairs. Right now Steven had to figure out where the Security Room was. As he did so, he noticed the floor itself had small LED lights embedded it. They weren't there before, but they formed a line down the right hand path on the other side of the foyer. He only noticed as they begun to blink in sequence, a blue colour. There was something compelling about it, with Steven walking the trail with caution. 

There were cameras everywhere, but for some odd reason, he could see them highlighted in blue as well. Their outlines this holographic series of blue pulsing streaks and strawberry designed labels on the side. Was this some sort of power to see connections? No. It wasn't. Otherwise he would have been able to see them in Connie's apartment.

He did come across a big door however...and the lights on the floor lead him here. Swallowing, Steven closed his eyes as he phased through it. Upon opening them, he instinctively shielded his eyes from the brightness of the two dozen or so monitors looking at every aspect of the property.

A single guard sat there, leaned back and snoring. The desk itself riddled with bread crumbs and half drunken cup of coffee. Steven peered up at the screens and touched the main console on the side and out popped a holographic pink square. It looked like it was the settings for the security cameras.

Before he did so, he looked at at the monitors for any kind of sign of Connie. Each screen either had a sticky note with numbers and letters, or a blunt description. One of them had, 'Boss's Office.' on a navy door. Squinting, Steven could have sworn to see some blood on the floor. He sparked briefly, not prepared for the worst case scenario.

"Yo Ste-Man, what's takin' you so long?" Amethyst asked through the comms.

No. He had work to do.

"I uh..sorry about that." He said, putting his focus back on the settings.

"I'm deactivating the cameras now...also, why do human guardians have an obsession with donuts?"

And why was this one slacking off?

"It's a tale as old as time." Said Vidalia.

"Too long a tale I'm afraid."

It took him a bit of tweaking, but he remembered something from a movie Connie and him watched once. Repeating the same feed over and over and making sure nothing was sus. He also downloaded a copy of the Mansions blueprints, to get a good idea of where everything was. The Boss's Office; or where the Empress resided, was on the top floor, around the back and in the middle.

"Okay...should be good...just please be careful." Steven confirmed.

They weren't as invisible as he was.

"We'll be fine." Said Amethyst.

"You go find Connie, we'll find our own way in and we'll catch up.

* * *

Walking out of the room, he decided to head back to the foyer. The lines were no longer there, strangely enough. Walking up the stairs, he could see more blood...and Kevin speaking with more security guards on the top floor. The trail itself eventually stopped at that location, but as Steven listened in, they were talking about how the trail ran cold there, as no more blood could be soon.

"The Empress is clearly working and we do not want to disturb her!" Said one of the guards.

Kevin face palmed.

"The blood is clearly in front of the door you idiots, I don't care if I don't have clearance, I want to wring my fingers around that scrawny girls neck!"

Still had a grudge for that last incident. That was months ago and he couldn't let it go. Neither could Steven...something that stirred up the non-existent blood that called for Steven to mess with his systems yet again.

"Sorry young man, but no one is allowed in without an appointment with the boss!" Said one of the guards.

"Yeah we just need to wait for her to ping us if she needs anything." Said another.

There were either smart or just loyal stupid....and Steven sincerely knew it was the latter. Perhaps it was Connie that was dragged in there...they did find her after all! And the blood...oh no...she must have come inside willingly and got caught. This was bad. 

_Very_ bad.

Her research lead to this shoot out at her apartment. She dealt with these apparent goons as Sadie described and still managed to find the time to drag herself here on some kind of hunch? Steven couldn't fathom why and how she had to do this right now....and she's going to end of dead at the end of this. Steven did not want to panic...he had to calm himself. Connie had to have a plan...Connie wasn't Connie without one. So she had to be fine...she just had to do...and memories of the AI Core flooded back with the child of youth giggling and playing with him. It pained him a great deal in not knowing...and he just _had_ to know.

Still, Steven had pressing matters. So with what courage he could upload into himself, Steven breathed; slipping past the guards, Steven found himself standing in front of the door and debating if he should enter himself. Making a fist, Steven tried to psyche himself up for anything. Again, he took another deep breath and entered.

Phasing through this particular door, he was met with a quaint room of blue. A simple touch glass lamp on the left hand side of a wooden based Work Station complete with only three aligned physical monitors that gave off a white glow. Behind that, was the back of black leather chair.

Steven wasn't exactly sure what to do with this scenario....until he looked at the floor...seeing more blood. Cautiously, even with the threat of Absolute Terror coming ever so close, Steven paced himself, walking slowly past the monitors until...

_Steven..._

Connie?

He heard her voice...she was still around?

_Don't go near her._

Huh?

"Connie where are you?" He asked.

"What's going on?"

He was so confused, but it was apparent someone was in that chair. But looking to her desk, he could see a sheet of paper on it. On it, was written.

"We never should have made that abomination."

Abomination?

_Follow the lines._

Looking at the monitors that turned a light blue...with Berrybytes signature sword and strawberry logo square in the middle in white. They all changed to arrows that directed Steven back behind the desk...and suddenly the doorframe itself was riddled with cybernetic lines....and the door itself sparkled and rippled like water with a cyan tint.

The lines Connie mentioned were on the floor again and were aiming towards the exit. Steven still wasn't sure about this.

"Connie I need to find you....are you hurt?" He asked.

No response.

"Connie?"

He was desperate...and the feeling was in with the heated lines of code in his very being. Clenching a fist, Steven moved forward towards the door. He tested it and tried to hack into it to no avail, instead a bit of blue goo grabbed his hand as he gasped in shock and tried to flick it off, however, it was then the entire door had burst out and swallowed Steven whole.

To where ever this would lead him, he was too frozen to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song ref: Stay Awake by Ellie Goulding and Madeon  
> I had issues with the length of this chapter, and decided to split it in two.


	25. Drivers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven traverses the Mansions Private Grid to find Connie, and finds more than what he was bargaining for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delays...hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Emerging on the other side...Steven had scanned the strange place was transported to. It had the outline of the Mansion, but ultimately, it was apparent he had been transported into some kind of private grid. Holographic nature with low poly renders which meant the grid itself was never meant to be designed for the Domain in the common use. Low quality but it would still served some kind of purpose, in the end. Rendering lines on the edges of every surface, lines of code normally hidden were in general patches here and there, running their subroutines. The real world equivalent would have amounted to just leaving cables running everywhere for people to trip over. It wasn't a hazard here, but there was little effort placed into the Grids atmosphere.

Steven was back into his Default Form...supporting the theory that the processors weren't made for this. Or they didn't have the proper drivers to support it. Typical of a pirate run network.

He raised his hand to summon a pentagonal pink screen and input a command that allowed him to trace Connie's extension. However, when he did so, all that did was bring up the Berrybyte symbol and a tiny alarm as the screen flashed red. Did she not want to be found?

Footsteps were heard nearby, however. Another scan indicated that there were several AI's traversing the paths within the Grid. He tip toed around the corner and peered down, seeing yellow low poly guards protecting the Grid.

Which meant something obviously valuable was lying in it.

Hacking into the system trajectory, he found several Guardian AI programs and alarm systems that would alert...a fair few AI's to his location. Their countermeasures not too dissimilar to anti-virus software. He had to think of something...and fast.

"Ron." Steven whispered.

"Ron can you hear me?"

Whether or not anything he could do out there wasn't likely to help but...

"Yeah Steven what's up?" Ronaldo replied.

Thank goodness the connection wasn't severed.

"Where are you all at?"

Disabling the cameras earlier was one thing. Evading real life guards, however..

"We've made it inside. We're sort of in one of the random hallways." Ronaldo explained.

"What about you?"

This place was massive.

"I'm inside the Mansions Private Grid." Steven responded.

"This place is crawling with AI based defence systems."

The fact that Connie must have been within the Grid itself made him feel a lot worse. The sight of blood had him fearful for her livelihood.

"But out there...please be careful."

He wouldn't forgive himself if anything would happen to them either.

"Likewise bro." Amethyst said.

"I'll see if V can patch me up to where you are. Hang tight."

* * *

Hopefully Amethyst would know what to do. Well...Steven could hack into the systems to disable them but his constant scans lead to the worry of wires being crossed and the amount of alerts for intrusion were numerous. Which lead him to think how in the world...

Oh right, he kept forgetting she was a Hacker. Of course Connie would get past all the guards. She was smart. So she had to be fine. But Steven was a strong, powerful AI in his own right...he technically shouldn't have anything to fear with the skills he's commanded for years. Any skill he had was creative, so he had to put his thinking cap on and work for it.

First things first; Steven had to find somewhere to hide his Avatar while his Psyche traversed in hidden status. He created a harmless safe zone in the nearby wall and commanded it as his own Admin Status. Easy to patch in undetected. He'd left his Avatar Shell within the Zone and left. The wall itself was only see through for him, but no other being, AI or otherwise would see it.

Popping out, he easily worked his way through the guards, though there was something off about all of this. 

He could hear footsteps. Tiny ones. Pitter pattering the hallways. While the grid itself reminded him much of the design of the one he was captured in, this one was not owned by PeriCom or anything of the sort. Logos that were once the Empire's logo; the back of an envelope with a crown stamped in the middle and one by one as Steven traversed past them, his pink light, obscure to all, turned them into the Berrybyte logo. Connie must have come past here, leaving a trail. One that turned into destruction as there were remnants of disabled shells left in tatters. Evidence of a fight. Shells don't have to be destroyed to not work. You can disable or distort. Connie would have used some kind of feedback loop that glitched the guardians in these twisted broken states.

Why would she not delete them outright? Steven wasn't so sure.

Steven found them everywhere he went. Going upstairs into more maze like hallways and eventually, seeing a new room with Connie's Default Avatar appearing in a standoff with what must have been a GIS. He could see her Kernel Core on her chest. Her thin frame and long pointed nose told Steven she was a Pearl-Class GIS. Ivory skin, short cut cream coloured hair and a particular translucent shawl hanging over shoulders that reached past her hips as well as the circuitry lines found common in these forms. Steven observed the events unfolding before him, as Connie had a Pistol aimed right at the Pearl's chest, the latter with her hands behind her back and showing no trace of fear.

"I'm not leaving until I get what I want." Connie threatened.

"I'm a notorious hacker Lonely, I don't care if you're under some kind of protocol, either you give me the data I need or I will resort to backdoor methods to get it anyway."

Lonely?

"As I have informed you human, I cannot proceed to give information unless my owner has given verbal authority." Lonely said, her voice soft and low.

Connie grinded her teeth, annoyed.

"Your owner is _dead!_ " She called out.

Wait, what? Steven didn't even...it explained the blood. But he didn't understand how...but it make sense of why Connie didn't want to go her near her.

"You have to have some kind of clause regarding that."

But Lonely wasn't budging.

"I would require an official death certificate or power of attorney." She said.

_Oof._

Steven could see what Lonely was guarding. A large vault of sorts that held the only Empire logo left that wasn't hacked into Berrybytes. What was Connie after that was so critical behind it? Was it revenge or...

Something about Dr. Miller that Connie was so desperate to discover? Steven directed himself towards the vault itself and analysed its contents. It was being contained by several encryption locks that would possibly take hours, days or weeks to crack through.

Steven had to get himself started, never the less if Lonely wasn't going to cooperate.

"I know Dr. Miller was holding something critical to the Pink Monolith Investigation." Connie told her.

"Hell, maybe it was _you_ who alerted her when I hacked into the Grids systems and sent goons after me."

And here Steven thought Connie was careful...much more careful than this. That not even the Chief of PeriCom would be able to find her.

"I am in charge of the Vaults Contents." She said.

"But it was not me who forwarded the Empire's Associated Protectors to your place of residence."

Who then?

"I find that hard to believe." Connie said.

"Someone knew I was looking into it. Dr. Miller was part of the same team that was building the superserver. My software doesn't leave traces of me left behind unless I intended it to...that's one of the first rules of Hacking. Mask your location."

Hiding the IP address wasn't an easy task unless you had your own VPN that would basically have you appear anywhere but where you actually were.

"Now this Vault holds something that Dr. Miller is deliberating hiding. Would you rather have PeriCom be alerted to this trove...and perhaps, crack your code to see what you, as I know Pearl-Class GIS are glorified Cloud Storage Systems...and they would rip out your insides instead."

Steven would have gulped and he'd hoped it wouldn't get to that point. So he instead focused on finding out more about Lonely's origins. Where she was from, who she was originally made for. The Empire were known terrorists for sabotage and for stealing precious software. Pearl-Class GIS were considered valuable, as the Ancilla Pearl mentioned that they were usually not found too far from their owners.

"Dr. Miller was someone in the field who dealt with GIS Phylacteries who emerged from a Monolith's Kindergarten. So she would have taken you specifically from White's Kindergarten."

Kindergartens were another matter entirely.

"As all Pearl-Class are." Lonely iterated.

"If Owner-Barbara is not around to administer admission, I would need a Diamond-Class GIS to override my systems."

A Diamond Class?

"Like a Monolith? You can't be serious!" Connie said with total disbelief.

"As if a Monolith would just waltz in and say hey, here you go! There has to be another way....if you don't want me ripping into your code. I'd rather avoid that conflict."

Steven was prepared to assist where necessary, if Connie would just ask. Steven didn't like it either but he knew how important this was. His Psyche travelled next to Lonely and was about to communicate with Connie via a message that he was there, ready to assist where necessary. He wasn't a Diamond-Class GIS but he figured two users were better than one.

"Steven if you're around, can you get your ass in here in already." Connie ordered.

She knew he was? Oh. Of course she did. She let him in here, after all.

It was then Lonely's head popped up.

"Steven?"

Like she knew the same.

"Yeah Steven." Connie said with pride.

"Berrybytes little Biscuit-Boy. Just get in here with the damn avatar, the AIs in here have a time lock so we're going to be fine."

It was like Connie knew his every move, kind of like Garnet's predictions. So after that small snippet of shock, he immediately went back to his Avatar and returned back. However, doing so, rendered a bit of surprise seeing him there in his Default Form. She did a quick scan on his form and her manner had changed entirely.

"You are the same Steven Dr. Miller had mentioned in her files." Lonely revealed.

Oh so now she was talking.

"I might be?" Steven sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his neck in uncertainty.

Connie was just pissed by this, but she let this play out as she lowered her weapon. Steven might as well be a Diamond-Class if this helps her get the information she desired.

"In what I can tell you, Dr. Miller mentioned many regrets." Lonely continued.

"She spent a percentile of her time intoxicated. She talked about you and talked about Dr. Gregory DeMayo. She had a specific distaste in the latter."

She didn't like his father?

"On quote: "I'd rather see that man burn in hell for the work he's made me do." End quote."

And that was allowed for what she could say. Imagine all the words she was unable to say. Connie just wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"I wonder if she knew where the true location of the Monolith was." Steven queried.

Perhaps. Now they would never find out.

"The topic of the Monolith was a sore point for her." Lonely explained, her head down.

"But that wasn't what the reason why she was indulging in alcohol."

Connie didn't care. She just wanted access to the vault.

"Look, Lonely. I hear you." She said, persisting with the peaceful resolution.

"Just this once, override your own damn protocol. I don't want to subject you through the bullshit I would normally put others through. Make life easier for yourself."

Steven took notice of Connie's warnings closer than he thought he would imagined himself to. The way Connie expressed her own displeasure in unleashing her wrath against this apparently innocent on the surface construct that was only doing what she was programmed to. He then noticed Lonely's Avatar beginning to glitch and distort.

"I cannot." She said.

"I...oh no..."

The glitching got worse.

"What's wrong?" Steven asked, about to help her.

Lonely knelt down and curled over as she begun to cry. Something shifted in the Grid and he could feel the tiniest cracks.

"It hurts...IT HURTS!" She called out.

Her Kernel Core as lighting up like the sun too. Steven made a quick scan; her systems were running over time for no reason which threatened to shut her down. What was happening? Oh no...the face of distorted distress, the scramble of limbs...this wasn't good.

"NO I DON'T _WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_ "

The screech was deafening as her voice scrambling into the highest pitches, causing Steven and Connie to walk back a few paces. This was a strange, unforeseen phenomena. The two of them watched in horror, as Lonely's Avatar burst into light and in it's place, was a giant moth creature out for blood.

"What the hell is _this_?" Connie questioned, bringing out her pistol.

Steven's heard of this thing happening before...but he's never seen it. Something the Gems once told him about. He tried to call Amethyst, but the transmission was nothing but static. The presence of this entity was blocking comms...so they had to figure out a way to stop it.

It took notice of Connie and flew towards her, before Steven slid in to protect her, summoning a round pink shield. The Shield he's never had to use until now. Connie's never seen it before either. She figured it was just a part of his programming, but it drew to mind something she's seen before. 

But where?

"This GIS has been corrupted." Steven announced, as the monster continued to whack into the shield itself. He skimmed the systems around him to try and touch base, but to his horror, the reach was halted due to the the anti-corruption protocol protecting other sections of the Grid; meaning nothing could get in or out without the corruption being subdued.

"It's Cabinet must be in the building somewhere, but we can't talk to Amethyst."

Connie growled and shook her head. 

"For fuck sake I should have known there must have been some kind of security check in place. This is bullshit!" She roared, the ferocity of her anger knowing no bounds.

But it had Steven realise...did she do something to Lonely?

"Connie, were you running any programs?" He asked.

The Hacker sighed and nodded.

"It was meant to be harmless." She said, trying to calm herself.

"It was a Seed meant to slowly copy keys and passwords over to me. It's never done this before, I swear."

So Connie was already in the works of stealing from Lonely anyway. But she must have not used it on a GIS before. He's heard of programs going haywire before, but cross OS platforms were doomed to failed majority of the time. About a 55% failure rate simply due to incompatibility issues. Hackers used Seeds in their work to obtain data at a slow rate and eventually would be able to compile even the most well protected of information within hours, days....weeks, months. If you had the patience.

A Pearl Class must have had a lot to contain...except the data Connie was searching for was inside the Vault.

"I ceased running it now but..."

Could it have corrupted the GIS though? Connie has hacked them, just not in this way. The corruption was more like a virus than malware in theory, but it was also said to be a breaking bug in their systems.

* * *

_An untold amount of time ago..._

"Be wary, GIS aren't perfect." Said Pearl.

Steven was sitting in the lounge with the Ancillas one day. They would educate him on many things out in the world he still had a lot to learn from. One of their lessons included being educated on Corruption, after encountering a green worm like creature attacking the MBC Grid. Corrupted GIS took the form of rabid monster who sought to destroy everything in their path. 

"Corruption occurs through multiple methods. Data degradation is one of them. Unintentional or. 'silent'. Like humans, systems can evolve but they can also age in a specific way." Garnet said.

Age like a human?

"Yes. GIS do not normally succumb to this due our phylacteries ways internal processing is way more advanced than any human can ever dream to create. We can evolve on our own due to our unique matrices but we aren't immune ourselves." Pearl continued.

"The rate in which GIS corrupt is a lot less than say an AIs. But the way they can is far more dangerous."

They had encountered corrupted GIS multiple times in their history; fighting off and disabling them until they can be repaired. _If_ they can be repaired.

"Is there anyway to fix them?" Steven asked.

Pearl and Garnet exchanged looks.

"You can always return the phylactery to its source." Pearl said, though Steven noticed her wariness, her hesitation as she talked about it. A sense of discomfort about a touchy subject.

"That source being a Diamond Monolith."

_Oh._

"Has anyone tried?" Steven wondered.

He didn't like the idea with GIS and AI being hurt...if he could but fix them. He had this entire need to fix things for reasons unexplained.

"Sadly no." Garnet responded.

"The lack of access to any Monolith means no one GIS can be fixed any time soon."

And they weren't exactly out to find any. The Ancillas were even hesitant to continue finding out more about the Pink Monolith.

"But our goal is to contain the Kernel Cores within the safety confines of Burning Room until we find another solution."

* * *

He had to destroy the Avatar first before he could get to the Kernel Core. He knew that much. He didn't wish to do so, but he had no choice. The Ancillas never went into the detail as how GIS could become something relatively humanoid to something more bestial and abstract in design. They talk of age but...there had to be something else. He doubted Connie's seed did anything either.

"Connie...we need get rid of the shell so I can contain it's Kernel Core." He told her.

The Hacker nodded, not for a moment hesitating. Getting up, she withdrew her pistol and brought out her sword in whirlwind of blue pixels fading in and out of existence.

"Copy that." She answered firmly and with a great deal of unmistakable confidence.

"Let's bring this moth to a flame."

On instinct, Connie went back a few paces, as Steven kept up the shield. She took a deep breath and burst into a sprint with her sword behind her and with that moment, Steven soon knelt down with the shield on top of him as Connie jumped up on top of it.

He pushed her up high to support her like a spring. She swung her blade with one might fell swoop, slicing the Avatar in half. The Kernel Core was left intact and the Avatar burst into small white shards before they disappeared. The worst part of it was the almighty screech that went louder before it stopped completely.

Steven watched as the core floated downwards. He walked forward and let it cradle in his hands. Poor thing. So he encased it in a pink zip bubble, but could only but think of the torment the GIS would have gone through in that short amount of time.

"Great. Now we can't get inside." Connie complained.

Words that gave Steven more ire than anything; simply due to the lack of respect within them.

"You can't, or you just don't have the patience to get in there?" He said, semi-scolding in tone.

She didn't bite though.

"Keycodes are normally the easiest and quickest way." Connie told him as she approached the side of the vault.

"But perhaps not all that we have here is digital. This is only part of what I'm here for....and I suspect what lies within here as more to do with the part of Dr. Millers involvement with the Pink Monolith."

There was more?

"What do you mean?" Steven queried.

Connie did one of those shifty smirks...again.

"While I was busy hacking into the Grid, I found something up in the spacious attic. Something underneath cloth that I found to be interesting..."

Something was that almost worth dying for? Steven still didn't like it. After she said that, an alarm alerted her on the crystal on her hand which began blinking red. Which, wasn't always a good sign.

"Fuck me." She cursed.

Steven then felt dread overcome him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

The sigh of irritation masked the real issue she was having.

"Stupid fucking body is still _bleeding_ WELL after I triaged it with as many bandages I could spare in the moment...you know how hard it is to wrap your own body that's running on adrenaline and that tremors like crazy? It's fucking impossible."

And the fact she was saying this in the same tone of irritation disturbed Steven more so....and the horror that she was somewhere very slowly dying had Steven furious.

"Connie why didn't you tell me this earlier?" He chastised, his own bursts of anger emerging in small darker magenta flashes through his Avatar.

Connie rolled her eyes, clearly not taking this as seriously as he was.

"Because I _thought_ the problem was fixed." She replied in earnest.

"I was going to go to the hospital as soon as I was done. For fuck sake Steven, I can take care of myself."

He was extremely hesitant to believe that..and the lack of trust that was hidden there within his code regarding the last time she almost died still lingered. She made this a very obstructive habit...a risk Steven could no longer afford. Enough was enough. He had to get Vidalia and Ronaldo to her fast.

"Steven to Ronaldo and Vidalia; Connie's body is in the attic. She needs first aid!" He called.

And a bit more of a scalding.

"Roger that!" Ronaldo replied.

"Finding our way up now."

The pair had the longest, glaring staring contest for the longest time. He had Lonely's Core in his hands, staring at Connie next to him in extreme disappointment. She pulled this stunt and for what? A damned hunch? If only Connie had seen what he had seen. Heard what had heard. Felt the terrifying realisation of her own lingering mortality on the brink. 

"Why didn't you call us?" He asked, his voice breaking.

Connie face-palmed and shook her head.

"It wasn't going to be a long job." Connie answered. About to begin describe the series of event that unfolded before she arrived...

"Besides, it's not like I had planned this as it was..."

* * *

_Several hours earlier..._

She had been sitting at her Work Station, eyes glued to the middle monitor and seeing a picture of the Mansion, the Empire's Symbol and what appeared to be a unique type of hoverbike. Pink and black in design.

"Oh so its in that dark mansion on the other side of town? It's a cool lookin' bike...but what connection does it have to Dr. DeMayo?" Connie said to herself.

All of a sudden her screen started blinking red. Connie jumped at the sight.

"What the fuck...are you shitting me?" She cursed.

She then heard door slams...and the click and application of instinct went full tilt as she jumped out of her chair, slid over her bed to the drawer where her pistol was. She scan her fingers over the handle, authorising her access. Steven's never witnessed her use it...but she had on important occasions and it had saved her life during critical events.

"Well...they found me before I could find them...interesting."

The door burst open shortly after, as a legion black suited goons came in as Connie leaned against the wall closest to the door frame. She heard them walk around the apartment, trying to find her. Connie swallowed, nervous but otherwise she had an old thrill that through her veins. That addictive Adrenaline beginning to take its course and she loved it.

"We know you're here Berrybyte!" One of the men called out.

And the fact that Connie had progressed to a grin was a bit jarring.

"Hmm...maybe they'll bring me straight to them..."

She took a deep breath and internally counted to three.

One...two...

Peering around the corner on three, Connie took a few pot shots, aiming for the goons chest...only for her to miscalculate for the third goon who popped in got her in her right hand side.

"FUCK!" She cried.

She put a few into him as well...and another two that came inside. Once they were dealt with, Connie had gone to her medicine cabinet. She tried to clean her wounds first, but the blood just kept flowing. In a rush, she wrapped the bandages around her body until she had none left, then down a bunch of painkiller tablets to push on.

Dead bodies in her apartment wouldn't look good either. So she'd popped down the incinerator shoot down the end of the hall; meant for all garbage to be burned to ashes down the bottom of the building. But not before she scavenged their bodies for any fancy trinkets she could find.

But she knew for certain, that Mansion was hiding more and they did not want her to find it.

* * *

"What about Dr. Miller?" Steven questioned.

"You said she was dead."

Connie nodded.

"Suicide." She said.

Suicide?

"So you didn't have a hand in it?" Steven questioned, confused by it all.

Connie shook her head.

"She was like that when I got there." She said.

"I'd gone through an entrance on the roof and landed in the foyer. I'd gone in there and found her corpse. I tried to hack into her Work Station but the guards were closing in. Luckily, next to her room was the entrance to the attic so I took my gear and headed up there to hide."

Her Avatar proceeded to glitch in a fraction of a second...an indication that the signal was weakening...and her body was still dying.

"And now I need a cigarette."

* * *

The human pair had fought off guards in the meanwhile. Vidalia was masterful with her pistol, putting her training to work, while Ronaldo was a few steps behind, personally preferring to avoid conflict. Eventually, they had gone to the boss's office. Only to find Kevin standing right out side of it.

"Stop right there!" He said, aiming his gun at them.

Vidalia had her weapon turned to him as well. Neither were budging, while Ronaldo's stood behind her, eyes extremely wide.

"Kevin Garcia. Adopted into the Miller Empire. I've been wondering when you would slip up."

Kevin growled. He was a wanted man for months, though he always slipped through their fingers. Either through his influences. Vidalia hated the Empire for this reason. Kevin was just a lackey owned by them, getting paid to do their dirty work and relishing in it.

"More like used." Kevin berated.;

"I've been wanting to to get out of this foolish family but no...Bitch-face Barbara refuses to see me."

Probably ever since he got humiliated at the Club.

"Besides, the real problem is that intruder. They've spotted her but then the idiots lost the slut."

Vidalia rolled her eyes.

"This gun has gone through it's paces Garcia and I'm not afraid to use it." She warned.

"Step aside now and you might live."

The man growled as he lowered his weapon, his hand shaking. The man was one of the most cowardly you would have ever met. Maybe he was slick in the digital world but when met with the real issue of dying in reality, he was really, what Connie would call, a pussy.

"FUCK!" He screamed, dropping the gun as he dug his fingers into his head.

"I'm always getting screwed over!"

Vidalia kicked the weapon to the side as she cautiously approached him. She then slammed his chest into the nearby wall and handed Ronaldo her gun. The Fryman was so shocked by this that he didn't know what to do at first, but then pretended to act cool as he aimed the gun at Kevin himself, tempted to shoot him. Though watched as Vidalia handcuffed him.

"Put it down Ron or else you''ll shoot someones eye out." She said. Once she was finished she grabbed the gun back from him, then pressed a button her wrist to shock Kevin, which in fact, knocked him out cold. Common police procedure with certain, troubling criminals they knew wouldn't shut up. She walked over him and continued their way to find Connie.

The pair eventually found the steps into the antic and walked up them. It was gigantic and had tonnes of furniture covered in dusty sheets. Vidalia turned the light on, which emitted a weak glow, then made sure to examine the perimeter for any further threats. The only real threat was Ronaldo's asthma flaring up from all the dust particles in the air that forced him to get his inhaler out. Though, he gasped as he could see a hand popping out from behind a covered couch.

Ronaldo ran behind it, seeing a body lying against a box. They were next to a silver laptop which was on their right and a pistol left resting on the palm of their relaxed left hand. Blood poured out from their side onto the floor, but the face was more than recognisable.

It was Connie.

Vidalia approached and knelt down next to Ron and took out a small flash light and opened her eyes. She was unconscious, though when she investigated more, she felt a cable around the back of her neck which lead to the laptop itself. Another USB was in the side as well.

"She's jacked in." Vidalia said.

"Dude she looks so close to death." Amethyst commented.

Indeed she did.

* * *

"I think we need to talk about this." Steven acknowledged, trying to bring what Amethyst would call, an Elephant in the Room. Though he could quite understand the metaphor.

"First it was Kevin, then it was the donation of your brain and now this? How many times have you risked your life just so you could succeed the mission?" 

Connie furrowed her brows, perplexed as she took out a digital cigarette and lit it up with her finger acting as a lighter; a tiny flame on the end of her pinky. Putting into her mouth, she inhaled, then exhaled. She needed that...she really did. It wasn't the same, but...it did the same thing in relaxing her brain.

"I've taken risks all my life Steven; that comes with the job." She replied. She wasn't raising her voice at all, but her mild manner was a type of arrogance Steven detested.

Such risks Steven had done before, but it didn't mean he had to like them.

"I saved your ass from PeriCom. Don't you think that was a massive risk to me?"

In a way yes, but that wasn't the point.

"I would have figured a way out." Steven explained.

"I don't have a real world body that needs tending to. Worst case scenario would have had me reconstitute somewhere else eventually."

Connie snorted, unimpressed.

"And I have my own protocols in place." She said.

Like that saved her from being captured.

"You literally lead them to you Connie, what happened to the basic fundamentals of hacking?" Steven said, continuing to drill into her.

She tapped the cigarette to her side, watching the ashes fall from the tip.

"I don't know how that happened." She said.

"The Empire is finished anyway. Miller is dead and the rest will scatter." 

Steven was usually about the bigger picture, but the minute details and aspects of this. Part of just kept coming up with screenless errors of how wrong it felt.

She approached the fault and brought out a console, beginning to hack into it with her own programs.

"I didn't expect the Pearl GIS to corrupt. I'm not sure if drawing out the keycode while in that state would allow me to get through this any faster."

What was she even thinking. Steven warped the bubble back to the Temples Burning Room, before grabbing Connie's arm.

"Listen to me." He said.

"You're dying out there and you're focusing on this now? It's going to take ages!"

Connie stole her arm back from him.

"It's another seed." She said.

"It'll figure out the code eventually and will reroute it to my systems when it's done. Fucking hell you're being an angry Biscuit-Boy today."

Dark blue square panels formed, folding up and down and creating a cube until itself where each side had the Berrybyte symbol to isolate them from any intruding programs that might hinder her progress. It was a private peer network, that would allow the data to be taken to her Work Station once it was completed.

"But if you want to make yourself useful, get out here and get me to a hospital if you're so inclined. And get them to uncover the sheet behind me...and take that to Ronaldo's Warehouse for inspection...you're gonna love it."

* * *

He was still scornful, but... Steven did what he was told and took himself out through Emergency Ejection and found himself back into Ronaldo's CPD. The man shook as he tendered to her wounds. 

"Oh you're back?" He said.

Now he could properly see Connie in the flesh. Unconscious with a lot of blood everywhere. His anger mixed with his worry upon such a horrifying sight. This was exactly what he was talking about. She was succumbing to the lack of care some users had for their own flesh and blood bodies as addicts would become bone thin after spending 99 percent of their time in the Domain. Empty husks with cobwebs. Euch. There weren't exactly laws that prevented this from happening. Only guidelines as technically it would only become illegal if you had wards to take care of.

They wrote that in after they found that out the hard way. The problem was, that it was still happening anyway.

"Ambulance and reinforcements should be here shortly." Vidalia announced.

"We'll do a sweep on the place, confiscate evidence of the Doctor was trying to do here."

Ronaldo looked up at Vidalia, who was standing in front of the sheet Connie was talking about.

"Ron, that right there." Steven said.

"Connie said to look at it."

Vidalia noticed it as well and tilted her head. She took the the sheet off and coughed as the dust settled. Before he sat a pink and black hoverbike. It looked sleeked, with several scratches from use. The front of it was a lions head with its mouth wide open revealing some kind of metal cylinder with in. It was kind of bulky for a hover bike but it looked like it would do the job. There was Alien Tech language on the side of it, in black text.

"The _Rosa Nova_." Amethyst translated.

"Fanciest thing...too fancy for my tastes...doesn't look like it'd last long on the road however."

It was more akin to an artistic expression as opposed to a usable hover bike.

"I've never heard of it, but something about it seems familiar."

After the heavy revelation that the Ancillas once served Gregory DeMayo, this had to have been linked to it. For unknown reasons, unless Connie was gonna bother to explain herself.

"You gonna confiscate it?" Ronaldo asked, trying to figure out a way to disconnect Connie from the laptop. He was at the laptop itself, but he couldn't get into it. Like Connie was denying him the chance.

"This is such a unique issue at hand." Vidalia said, trying to find the specs.

"I'm gonna have to."

Somehow Steven felt something with this bike and wanted to know more about for himself. Even with the slightest room scans, there was a particular type of energy surrounding it that was a bit familiar.

"Taking the Empire down like this...I was hoping for more of a challenge." Amethyst said.

"Just let the Danger Squad have this V. They can handle it."

The cop rubbed her chin. She had helped Amethyst and her friends plenty of times in the past out of their unusual friendship. She was one of the only good cops not willing to let themselves be pulled around by PeriCom and their general thuggery and monopoly over the city.

"Just...I'll handle the details...but if the investigation comes up that it's linked, I'll need some kind of evidence to give to the higher brass." Vidalia answered, though she wasn't entirely okay with it.

"Besides, we need to take care of this one...doesn't look like she'll last much longer."

Was Connie deliberately delaying the disconnection because of the Vault? Good god she was being impossible right now...refusing to leave what she would deem to be a gold mine, a treasure trove of juicy information she couldn't wait to get her hands on. 

Foolish...

And it drove him crazy.

"Connie..." Steven said, grated.

"I'll talk to her."

* * *

It was awkward. Vidalia insisted Ronaldo let her take care of the bikes as she would send it over to his Warehouse for 'proper analysis.' as well as the search for Lonely's Pearl Cabinet was found in the dusty basement of the Mansion and was sent as well. Kevin was arrested and brought in for questioning, though he was more a lackey than a higher up.

Though it wasn't official, Vidalia would take useless evidence; trinkets, devices because they needed to get rid of the backed up junk from closed cases, usually dating back several decades. It went against protocol but nobody really cared too much at the Station.

Ronaldo and Steven worked to see how long it might take Connie to finally allowed them to disconnect her. They waited for five more minutes...and Ronaldo was about to make an emergency ejection...until...

A gasp, a shoot up and widened eyes had the system return Connie back to them, much to the boys belief. Her focus was a little off, abruptly pulling the cable out and putting her messy strings of hair behind her ears.

"Did you get what you need?" Ronaldo asked.

She winced, before glaring at the blonde man. Ronaldo wouldn't say he was intimidated, but he definitely was.

"No..." Connie replied, rubbing her head and grunting in pain.

"I was sick of the alarms. So I had to copy the Vault as a zip file and transfer it to my station. But without Lonely, it'll still take me forever to get into."

Lovely...

"Come on, let's get you fixed up..." Ronaldo said as she pulled Connie to her feet.

The sounds of pitter pattering feet could heard, but only in Connie's ears.


	26. Risk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven isn't happy with Connie's actions at the Mansion and argues with her about it.  
> He also finds out something critical about himself in the process.

Another trip to the hospital had Priyanka concerned yet again. But at least Connie was conscious this time. The AI Matriarch had refused to leave Connie on her own even when she was discharged, so in turn returned to Connie's apartment to keep a close eye. All the effort had Connie earn surgery and their respective scars, other than being non-plussed, was glad she was able to get what she wanted. Most of it, anyway...

Compulsion riled up the binary blood within him to the point where he wasn't sure what to do about it. She was smiling and Priyanka was frowning. Asking so many questions and in that motherly tone, scalded Connie for being careless. She wasn't wrong and Steven was inclined to agree. Like always, Connie dove right back into her work; determined to set the record straight.

Yes he too was glad she was okay, but this situation changed his emotions. Steven could love her, but he was also angry with her. Angry with how she had decided to risk her own termination again for a goal that no one had been informed about. Connie liked keeping her secret ways and Steven came to detest how much she kept to herself.

Almost losing her... _again_...he feared that this was becoming a habit. Over some kind of super pink vehicle she hadn't bothered to tell him about and data she was desperate to get into.

A few days later when Connie had full recovered, they had gone to visit the Warehouse and overlook this new toy. Ron had been poking around its guts during that week and had some intriguing finds. Standing there with the biggest smirk on her face, like she was so pleased with her discovery like nothing else mattered, or even changed. Lonely's stained white Cabinet was put next to Lapis' and Bismuth was put on hold and sat with them too, like a row of broken trophies. Hopefully this next piece of tech wasn't going to be as disappointing, but these antiquities were a list of things suspected or found to be potentially connected to the incident; it was just about adding all the pieces together in the hardest puzzle known to man.

"The Rosa Leo." Said Connie.

"It came up in my research as special machine developed by both Greg DeMayo and Bismuth. What its meant for? I don't even know."

Ronaldo nodded, though not entirely fond himself of Connie getting herself hurt over it's capture, it did have a certain charm.

"It looks inspired...I found traces of Alien Tech in its guts; coupled with a Kernel Core of its own." He revealed.

A hybrid? Then they might need another crucial pair of eyes. One that would most likely understand it more than anyone.

"How's Bismuths state going?" Connie queried.

No. They weren't going to activate her again until they knew what they were doing. It caused Steven more pain upon the imagination given food for thought. Just as much as it did for Ronaldo.

"I'm not confident..." Ronaldo replied.

"No amount of physical tinkering is gonna keep her stable. It's gonna be more of a software problem more than a hardware one."

Figures. They were win some and lose some. Too much risk and not a lot of caution to spare.

"Should we bring in the Ancillas to have a look at the bike?"

That was something that crossed Steven's mind. From Lapis and her Cabinet, to Bismuth's rampancy, to Lonely's corruption. The world did not like GIS right now.

"I'll ask them if they know anything, but I'll see if I can drag them up at some point." Steven replied, then looked at Connie.

"I'm half way through the encryption so I'm hoping to dig up something good by the end of the week." Connie told him, preparing to leave.

"Let me know if you find something else, will you?"

* * *

They returned back to Connie's Apartment. She had to check and recheck to make sure she wasn't going to compromised again. She had to know who found out about her location when she was looking into Dr. Miller and the Empire.  
Staring into her screen; that which continued to scrawl with copious amounts of fast pacing text of gibberish as her work into the vault continued. With her mouth behind her tented fingers, Connie was in deep thought.

So was Steven. He was supposed to be back in the Domain, but he could no longer let this go further while it ravaged his mind like alarming pings. He stood next to her on the CPD and examined her features. Worn. Tired. The can of the energy drink next to her half drunk and next to two empty cans. An ashtray filled with buts and the air was both sweet and ashy like burnt strawberries.

They had to talk about her issues with risk. Her actions. There was only so much Steven could take until he would lose her entirely without bringing her back. His fear over losing her was like its own festering wound...he wasn't sure what he would do.

"Connie we need to talk." He said, braving himself for impact.

Her eyes didn't even leave the focus of the screen.

"About what?" Connie asked.

He sighed. Steven loved her, but her apathy was rusty.

"About...your actions. You didn't bother to warn us what was going on. You could have died!" He cried.

The Hacker rolled her eyes.

"Steven I'll tell you the same thing I tell you all the time. I can handle myself." She answered, like she was tired of being told of what she could and couldn't do.

Steven wasn't convinced. Connie was capable of many things. Coming back from the dead was not one of them.

"What if we didn't show up?" Steven argued, the stress threatening to flay his circuits.

"What if you....bled to death and no one of us were around to save you?"

Connie believed Steven was obsessed with one thing; the worst case scenario. Did he not believe in her that she would have done this a different way if they didn't show up? They just happened to connect the dots. They were smart enough to figure it out. Connie could only respect of the intelligence of so few who would able to translate her bread crumbs.

"I leave myself ways to get out of situations." Connie claimed.

"Different scenarios, different paths. There's an error; you find the error and make adjustments to the code where necessary. This shit; I've been dealing with it all my life."

Steven simply didn't like it. His anger was rising with Connie found all the justifications she'd liked to use to back her up. The thought of her dying on him brought Absolute Terror and would risk his own functionality.

"I- don't want you doing that anymore." He pleaded.

"I don't want you risking your neck like this."

He didn't get it...this was what she had always been doing. The potential for death was high but that's why she kept her options open for multiple solutions. That's how she had been approaching her life up until this point. She didn't need some...Biscuit Boy telling her what to do.

"Steven you can't control my life!" Connie said, drily.

"How many times do I have to keep telling you, this _comes_ with the job!"

No. He refused to believe that anymore. He cared for her too much that Absolute Anger was going to take control. She wasn't taking this as seriously as he was...

It escalated so quickly, so much so that Steven had become so pissed off he couldn't control his own words.

"THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET A NEW JOB BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY YOU'RE NOT CUTTING IT ANYMORE!" He cried.

A roar that sent several pink pulses throughout the room, causing electronics to crackle and spark.

Connie froze in place; eyes widened. She shook her head and the heat in the room rose by several temperatures. Steven had taken his stance and said his opinion, though unsure if he had gone too far.

"Get out." She said...coldly.

Steven furrowed his brows, the Anger subsiding and leaving him in exhausted confusion.

"What?" He responded.

Words that fractured something painful within Connie. She was not expecting him to say that. Now she was the one fuming with the steam theoretically coming out of her ears, like he left the kettle on the stove for too long.

"GET OUT. GET THE FUCK OUT!" She screamed, pointing towards the door.

Oh no. Shaking his head, Steven had to be steadfast in the way he felt about this. Connie getting angry was something of consistency in her life...so he would have to allow her to calm down. He said nothing, before disappearing into the Domain in a violent fizzle of pixels, like he slammed a door in her face. Connie's eyes instinctively shut as she made a slight jump at the sudden harsh noise and inhaled and exhaled her stress through her nose, rather loudly.

Get a new job...Ugh. Who did he think he was? Telling her what to do? She's risking herself for him and Steven should have been more appreciative of her sacrifices for his sake. If he didn't like what she was doing then he never should have hired her in the first place. Hating the fact that he thought he was thinking she was fragile. Connie Berrybyte Maheswaran was anything but. Human flesh was human flesh that could heal in time, circumstances be damned. She was still alive and that's what really mattered.

It didn't make her feel better however. Connie felt awful and didn't like the guilt factor crawling up her throat. So for now, she had to get rid of that while she had work to do.

So she ended up going to the bottle shop and buying a case of beer; ending up spending most of her time getting wasted, alone and reading blurry code.

* * *

Their spat had torn them apart; but Steven was determined that he was in the right.

It had been a few days since then, Steven having stayed with Ronaldo at the Warehouse after their intense argument and neither were on speaking terms. Ronaldo had to cope with Stevens' ranting about how Connie was in the wrong. All the while trying to develop Steven's Android. Steven himself, his CPD-XL had since been upgraded so his hologram could now walk around the room. It was still in the testing phase but Ronaldo had most of the more glaring kinks worked out.

"Dude I don't want to be that guy, but...it's gettin' old pretty fast." Ronaldo complained.

Ronaldo liked the couple and he was sort of Steven's side regarding the whole fiasco with Connie willingly sacrificing herself in order to get the Rosa Leo, sitting there on the wall with the blanket draped over it, collecting dust. At the same time, Connie got them something valuable that PeriCom would kill to get their hands on. Connie was definitely skilled and the risks she took could be enormous. But wasn't that the norm with Hackers these days?

Taking sides was something he didn't wish to do. He respected Connie's skills, just not her attitude. But he could say the same for Steven at this moment.

"She says she did it for me...but seeing her almost die several times has my wires crossed so tightly that I almost burst each time." Steven argued, his hologram walking leaning against the nearby wall.

"There had to be other ways to get that stupid bike."

Ronaldo was beleaguered by it all. The two would have to make up some time. For now, he had to change the discussion. For the umpteenth time.

"The Empire was a deadly force." Ronaldo pointed out.

"Connie did better than most who would ever dare to get themselves inside that Fortress of depravity." 

Everyone knew the Empire dealt with dirty business behind their doors. They didn't see much but what they did see was alarming enough even if all their juicy secrets had yet to be revealed.

"So she was right to claim it; Alien Tech in our hands is better than being in PeriComs."

Still could have done it a better way.

"After all, I did tell her to start bustin' down digital doors. Maybe she got it confused for literal?"

Steven didn't even care anymore.

"But here's where we stand. Greg DeMayo created you. Greg worked with the Ancillas. Greg had Bismuth as part of his plans. The Rosa Leo? Connie said it was under Greg's name; belonging to him."

Wait, so Ronaldo and Connie were still talking? Steven didn't know whether or not he had the gall to ask him how she was doing. So he decided not to.

"But there is no surprise that this has been fitted with Alien Tech. Alien Tech that is incredibly difficult to discern. Unless we can get Bismuth to tell us."

And she wasn't exactly in the state to comment or talk. How Steven wished he could speak to her, more than he really wanted to speak with Connie. And instantly felt terrible about thinking as such. A constant conflict of the mind, interconnected synapses that weren't matching where they were supposed to. It was like that occasionally and it still was, overwhelming...too confusing that Steven would explode in the same way. For now, he could explore a lot easier with his projection, able to wander around the room as intended. But his eyes were only ever focused on the Rosa Leo.

The AI slowly walked towards the hoverbike, pondering on its purpose and what had Connie so eager to claim it. She hadn't bothered to show up at the Warehouse, so Steven presumed that she was still stuck in her Apartment, in her own selfish bubble, possibly still pissed off. Kneeling down, he was drawn it to more than he was the day he saw it through Ron's eyes. A compelling sense of curiosity uploaded.

He reached out to it...and upon the simple touch Steven's world went dark very quickly; the change of scenery washed away in sea of black pixels. Turning around there was nothing he could see...except a screen showing off his camera feed back in the AI Core. Another memory?

* * *

Dr. DeMayo was there with the Pink Hoverbike, somehow demonstrating it to Steven.

"Heyo Schtu-ball." He said. What kind of nickname was that?

"Your mom and I had made this together. Isn't it cool? Soon, we'll be able to get you out of here."

Get him out...what?

"Excuse me Dr. DeMayo?"

A stout blonde woman came into his feed.

"Oh hey Barb." He said with a warm smile.

"See what Rose helped me make?"

Barbara made a groan, seemingly exasperated by Gregs enthusiasm for the device.

"That belongs in the garage. Not in the AI Core." She said, chastising him.

"I doubt Steven would even care or understand. It's not like he'll ever be able to ride it."

Understand? No. He wouldn't. 

"That's the thing though!" Greg continued.

"It's not going to be used in a conventional way. You would take this thing at face value and undervalue it's importance to the greater scheme of things!"

Barbara hugged her tablet to her chest and leaned back, honestly more irritable by this. Perhaps his manner or intentions bothered her more so. At least, that what Steven was seeing.

"That's your solution? Forgive me for the critique of your plans Greg, but I don't think this is going to work."

What solution? What plan?

"Yee of so little faith Barb." Greg told her, adjusting the frames on his face, before pulling her in as he wrapped his arm around her neck.

"Steven's potential is enormous. Rose intends for him to lead the way to a greater future for humanity."

No way...Barbara pulled away and ended up keeping a distance between herself and Greg.

"Really? With a _hoverbike_?" She refuted.

"The Pink Monolith is our responsibility Greg. Not this...not this abomination!"

And with words that had Greg instantly peeved.

"Hey, don't call him that!" He said, defending Steven's honour.

The fact that Steven had never seen him so angry in his previous memories was jarring as well.

"Rose and I made him with love like any normal human being. Anyone with a child...like yours!"

And it made Dr. Miller just as pissed off with a disgusted grunt.

"Don't you dare compare this....this _thing_ to my daughter!" She cried.

"And...and you give him lavish gifts.. .for goodness sake Greg, open your eyes to see what you're doing. PeriCom did not ask you to waste time and resources on projects that have no value for the future of the Domain."

And so Dr. Miller looked up at Steven himself, righting into the middle of his camera which made him feel uncomfortable and colder than he already was.

"Maybe I should ask him for his opinion? His judgement...someone of his calibre should be in the correct state to understand how this all works. The project will proceed as intended....so he _will_ serve the Pink Monolith; he _will_ be it's shield as intended. Nothing more."

She walked off eventually, leaving Greg silent. Once Barbara was gone, Greg sighed and looked between Steven and the bike for a long time, resting his hands on the top of it. Steven didn't understand. How could he? None of this made any sense what so ever. For what little clarity he could gain was what had been revealed as a startling set of possible truths.

"Don't think too much about what she said Steven." Greg told him.

But she was right. That's what Steven's purpose _really_ was. A Shield. AI's that would serve as a stand in between the Monoliths and their subjects, although normally their stand ins were GIS, not AI's. His memory was still a bit spotty, but that's as much as he could get back from his databanks.

"Rose...I mean, your mom and I had this big plan. And uh...well, yeah you were intended to have a Caretaker role. But I think...it's gone beyond that."

A _Caretaker_. He's heard of those. Officially Assigned Guardians of Monoliths, if he wasn't mistaken. But Caretakers were definitely allocated GIS created by Monoliths themselves and from what Garnet once told him that they acted as their eyes and ears as well. Why would an AI possess that role? Monoliths were their own programmers of code majority of people would hardly ever get to understand in a single life time.

"You're still our son. And we love you.....and you'll be capable of so much more than being a Caretaker. One day you'll see."

Moving the bike close to Steven's camera, Greg grew more excited.

"This beauty here will be our ticket to where we want to be...and between you and me? And it has to be between you and me or else...well, ya know...."

Yeah yeah. PeriCom.

"But this baby is capable of 'out of this world travel'. You remember Bismuth? She helped us build it...and it will unite the whole family together. I promise..."

* * *

Going back to the present, Steven backed out as the real world returned back to him. He could see himself on all fours, staring at the concrete flooring beneath him.

"So...find anything?" Ronaldo said calmly, but instead scaring the hell out of Steven who had almost had heart attack. If he had one.

"You were doing that red light blinky thing."

Oh right that. Standing up, Steven wasn't entirely sure what he saw, though that last part had him a bit thrown off course. What was he supposed to do with this? The connection with the Rosa Leo was made even more confusing.

"Dad wanted me to be a Caretaker." He revealed, bluntly.

Ron's eyes widened. That was not what he was expecting him to say at all, out of the blue.

"Woah...no way." He said.

And the man began to try to subtle freak out, as he walked around the room with his fingers in his scalp, under total disbelief.

"That means you're...oh man this is _huge!_ "

It should have been...but Steven felt more melancholy than joy, looking at inactive Bismuth nearby.

"I mean...sheesh....you know what will happen if PeriCom catch whiff..."

More than he would know. But how far does his programming run as a Caretaker? What would role entail, for real? He didn't feel a connection to anything specifically, but his Dads mention of family to be united had him wondering.

"I know, I know." Steven said. He's had enough that anything that corporation set its eyes on would be considered dangerous. Everything had already been dangerous. This is just more than anything they'd come to understand.

"I wouldn't have a clue where the Monolith is though."

Or else they would have figured it out by now. Ronaldo tried to figure out the next step; knowing Steven's creation had very much to do with the Pink Monolith now. He had to let Connie know....but how or when...and would Steven approve of him letting her know? He decided to keep that to himself. Connie would probably figure that out anyway with that trove she was working on.

"I think we need to find other Caretakers I would say." Ronaldo surmised.

"Caretakers are super rare GIS and no one knows who they are for real. We for one, don't know if there is one more than Caretaker per Monolith."

They weren't spoken of a lot either. Their identities were the most secret in all of the Domain, coveting a super important position as to maintaining the health and well-being of their Monolith Masters. Steven tried going through his root source, but like always, it came up blank.

"I'll have a word with the Ancillas." Steven said.

* * *

Later that day he pinged the trio and met up with them again at the Temple. The last few days he'd spent ranting and hanging with Ronaldo that he flat out ignored the fact that he was supposed to let them in on progress. How he let his anger to get to him in such a way that he forgot what he was supposed to do. It didn't matter. Once he arrived, he spared no expense as he told them about everything that they uncovered so far...especially the Rosa Leo and that it was something meant for Steven, although to what end, he wasn't sure.

And the most important part.

"He also mentioned I was a Caretaker for the Pink Monolith. And _no one_ knew about this?"

The three looked at each other, perplexed and a bit distressed. The fact Steven revealed that came as of great concern to Pearl. The news about them working with Greg was hard enough but this got a lot more dangerous.

"That would explain your blank past." Garnet said, being the stoic one of the three. He could trust her the most out of the Ancillas, her ability to reason beyond anyone else he'd ever met. She rarely got angry and preferred peaceful dialogue unless people were out to harm them...and especially Steven, who the Ancillas were already super protective of from the start.

"A Caretakers links to their respective Monoliths are considered to some of the strongest known."

Certainly didn't feel like it.

"The reason for you...not...not knowing...I would say that any of this knowledge would have to have been erased for your protection." Pearl stated, though she was sweating far more than the other two.

"Speaking of protection, it could be the Imprint Subroutine itself was damaged or deleted at point."

Imprint Subroutine?

"Oh those are _annoying_." Amethyst complained.

"That irritating command that compels you to protect certain assets with your very lives."

It didn't sound that bad. Unless one went too far. Like a particular someone.

"I didn't have that installed, thank goodness...but most Quartz-Class that are added for security detail have it..."

A prototype thing, Steven imagined. Amethyst didn't have every single bit of application a Quartz-Class was supposed to have but she had enough to work with that she didn't worry about it too much. She was resourceful in other ways.

"A Quartz being a Caretaker would be a good choice however." Garnet noted.

"My algorithms with that Jasper GIS state she would be a most likely candidate for a Caretaker position, given her role within PeriCom's command structure that she would serve the Yellow Monolith."

That made a lot of sense, the more that Steven thought about it. That made her more scary too.

"Would that mean...I mean if what Bismuth said was correct..." Said Amethyst, thinking of a particular scenario.

They served Greg and so..

"Would that make _us_ Caretakers too?" 

Possibly? Steven wouldn't be left alone, but it made him worry about protecting them more than anything.

"Unless we get to speak with Bismuth again, we may not know." Garnet answered.

Them being Caretakers would make more sense than Steven being one. Ideas floated around in his head but he had nothing conclusive.

"But you all know I'm not a GIS. Perhaps...they tried to install the Imprint Subroutine into me...and it failed? I mean, I can't check half of my programs most of the time and I check my systems daily." Steven said. He felt a bit embarrased in not being able to access certain parts of himself, deeming it administrative access only for some reason.

Pearl on the other hand tried to purse her lips before releasing her next sentence to a stammering fault.

"Oo....well, maybe...maybe part of your s-software suite....it _could_ be GIS software...I'm just taking a guess as all." She said.

An AI with fragments of GIS Systems perhaps? He's had that inkling for a while now. Sadness nearly overwhelmed him as his insecurity came back up to surface. Garnet stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's the closest thing to answer we can get." She said.

Garnet could see...she could always see when matters like this would kick Steven down, when it came to conversations about his real purpose, his real design. Finding him all those years ago; it was from an emotional prediction she had that had the Synthesised believe that they were meant to be a family. Once honourable servants of this...Rose. She sounded familiar; like not all the data she had had been deleted.

But the risks taken and the jobs conducted. For the sole purpose of making their own existences mean something. She could always see Steven being restless; a rare trait for an AI whom had been normally been patient. Garnet only knew so much but what she did know, was that being BM-AI wasn't always going to guarantee that the human-side would translate well into AI-hood. The Ancillas did their best, dedicating their lives to his cause and ensuring that he was being guided in the right direction. Though she did not see his consensus with Connie coming, she could see how the two were linked with one another. That for what ever reason she never confided in the others with, was her certainty of Connie's general importance in Steven's mission.

"But we cannot stop there. You are heading in the right direction. We may see a resolution to this mystery sooner than we expected."

* * *

The Ancillas debated this among themselves. Mentally exhausted, Steven excused himself and had gone back into his room.

The room he'd spent so many years dwelling in. Escaping into the real world still brought on certain thrills but it was always when he was with Connie. Inserting himself into her Domain Port and feeling all of her sensations. It was a wonderful ride coupled with feelings humans would always take for granted in their short lives. She'd granted him the chance to live with her and that her Apartment was his. As long as he stayed out of the bathroom. Past incidents aside, Steven still honoured that...unless she was in danger again then he would have to break protocol for her safety alone.

He couldn't fathom why he was _that_ angry at Connie. Steven felt he was right but he should have gotten over that by now. He could have been simply irritated but not as much as pissed off as to yelling in her face to tell her to get a new job. Grasping his tightened chest, Steven queried his absolutes. Because such inquiries had Steven dive deep into his own psyche, withdrawing into the dark magenta chasms of all the memories shared with those he cared for and those whom he came to dislike. That could flip the switch between love and hate so easily. Steven could fall into himself to the point of slowly floating down and watching screens of their time together pass him by.

He categorised her attributes for his own amusement; Her determination, admirable to a fault. But he mostly analysed that her laughter was indeed, the purest thing. When she wasn't being seductive or abrasive or being a straight up jerk. He would come to discover that Connie's inner most self was the most beautiful part and the light she could give he would only but throw up his shield for her over and over again. Conclusion?

He _loved_ her. An Absolute Love. Out of anyone, anything. It was a certainty, a point written so deep into his code that he couldn't function properly without it. Garnet had gifted him with the knowledge about how certain feelings of attachment, of warmth and of soul that compelled individuals to be together. Her Ruby and Sapphire GIS components shared the same beliefs Garnet herself was to to believe the Consensus of Stevonnie being that result of his own attachments to Connie and had plead to what ever Monolith would listen, to bind their intricate minds with the stranger powers that be.

All this talk about Caretakers and their links with the Monoliths. He felt nothing towards the Monolith in question. He didn't feel anything from them directly, though whether or not they had an influence was unseen.

The links he knew of were Greg and the enigmatic Rose; who was she? His mother. A mother without a face. Creator of him. Creator of Rosa Leo. Most likely the WallofROSE as Connie once believed to be a link of some sort. Making him a Caretaker. Making him their son despite their real one likely having passed on. It was heart warming to think of, that he was loved instead of rejected by his familial ties. Experimented on...it didn't matter. They wanted him to exist. It was more human like than he'd originally envisioned.

Could he be both a Caretaker and a symbol of a deceased's love? He wasn't sure. The sensation of being trapped had a cold stream run down his spine...and so he had to leave.

Steven decided to take a walk around the city to clear his head, which was slightly down and with his hands in his pockets. The City itself was supposed to be welcoming; guaranteed to have the sunniest of days with thousands of people out. Friends. Couples. Families.

The innocence of it all. These people had no idea what was as stake in the world they made the choice to dwell in. In the crowds you wouldn't know unless you could pinpoint the telltale signs between AIs, GIS and Human Avatars.  
AIs were more rigid in the manner. Humans would laugh more. GIS were the confused ones.

Steven wasn't sure what he was or where he belonged to anymore.

A set of heels on the pavement near him grabbed his attention. 

It was Priyanka.

"Oh hello Steven, you busy?"

It'd been over a week since he'd seen her back in Connie's apartment. Priyanka could make him feel relaxed and given that they were, figuratively speaking, on the same wavelengths. The respect given to her was immense; being the only other BM-AI he'd had the chance to know better and help him understand himself in turn. He could see where Connie got her smarts, but obviously didn't inherit her grace.

The two sat on a bench by a large statue of a representation of a Monolith; a tall rectangular rock slate, with the words "Ad Deorum: Servite Sumus." carved in, with vines and flowers shaped around it.

"Work's been busy." Priyanka told him.

"The hospital has the common case of Overdependency of the Domain symptoms. Lack of Vitamin D intake, lack of a good diet. The Doctors call it Domain Rot. Humans that have their brains fried for having themselves logged in well over the recommended usage time frames....so they end up with a case of brain damage. They're delirious."

It was dangerous for ordinary humans to dwell in the Domain for extended periods. It was usually stated that the absolute max anyone would be in the Domain at any one time was normally 24 hours. 48 hours was pushing it, until Domain Rot would take place.

"That much electricity going into the brain for a long while causes it to overload eventually. Synapses weren't designed to work that hard with the constant feedback in a simulated environment. Unless you had some kind of cybernetic brain that was designed for that sort of thing."

A lot of that was illegal anyway. And mostly fictional. Domain Ports were cybernetic implants but weren't otherwise replacing anything organic. 

"I worry after that stunt Connie pulled...that she's going to be subject to Domain Rot. Or worse."

Steven didn't want to even imagine it.

"I don't like it when she does that either." Steven admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I kind of...yelled at her about it...and she told me to leave."

Priyanka blinked, surprised, though sighed as she relaxed.

"Connie is the one to defend her pride. Medically speaking, I tried too. But she's as stubborn as they come." She said.

Steven nodded, slumped and felt a bit ashamed of his actions. He shouldn't be, but he was.

"Connie needs to be told. But then again, she was a lot like her father. A dedicated man who was heavy on loyalty. Even if it hurt him....especially financially."

Stubborn...but loyal. He could appreciate the latter. 

"I wish I really knew my parents....well...my creators I mean." Steven admitted.

Priyanka smiled. He was such a curious child confined into a complex piece of software. No wonder Connie liked him. Though whether or not he was a case to be cracked was more Connie's style, her addiction to the intrigue apparent.

"I believe there is nothing wrong with calling creators our mothers and fathers. BM-AIs don't have to differentiate if there is already established relationship with the creators to begin with." She said.

"Your donors father was a human being. Your donors mother on the other hand..."

Rose...

"Dad said..." It was still weird for Steven to call him that, but he would get used to it.

"Dad said Rose was my mom."

The Doctor AI was a bit off put by that.

"Rose hm? She said.

"The figure that never was seen according to the reports. The mysterious lover of Gregory DeMayo."

Steven nodded.

"I saw an old memory. Dad said they made me with love." He admitted.

As most parents would. They must have really loved their son.

"That's a sweet gesture. I mean, as you know there are rules and regulations in place these days to prevent familial attachments." Priyanka explained.

The DEJA-VU Bug would be proven to be particularly unusual glitch in this case to solidify uncertain bonds. Despite the set backs; with the most common issue was accepting these facsimiles as real kin.

"But I'm beginning to wonder now if there is a underlying reason for that..."

Because of him?

"They lost their son. They wanted him back in anyway possible and instead got me." Steven said, the sorrow in his words most glaring that it made Pri frown.

It was more than that. But it was already something Steven had tried to accept on his own. There were holes, but the fact that Steven was a BM-AI made it all the more easier for Steven to see it, especially with the information Priyanka provided to him months before. He did jump a bit as she grabbed his hands, not wanting him to fall into that depressing pit again. The lack of his self-worth.

"Steven it's...yes, that's a probable conclusion to make. And the most common of all BM-AI scenarios." She said.

But what was this Caretaker role he was supposed to have? Why would he think...

"I would think....like everyone else that had wanted a loved one to live on eternally, that they would 'claim' to love the result. There were the unheard success stories of families completely content with what was given to them. Unfortunately those were very rare."

But there was the variables that factored into probabilities of those who would condemn, discard and abandon...and those would accept, take and love. Greg wanted the 'family' to unite. What the family consisted of, was anyone's guess.

"This is going to be a very odd question...but...you know about...Caretakers right?"

A word that gave Pri pause for the moment.

"Yes. Yes I do...what about them?" She said.

Would she understand?

"I think I _might_ be one of them? I dunno." Steven admitted, with a shaky tone.

Priyanka quickly scanned the area. No one was nearby at the time.

"A...Caretaker? Steven that's....that's not something you should admit so freely." She stated, a bit paranoid.

So he was made aware. Somehow he was in the mood to vent in actuality. He could trust Pri to take things seriously anyway.

"I know but I want to sort of...make sense of it. I feel like...an bootleg AI by this point. Code thrown in and hoped to work."

But he was made by one of the inventors of BM-AIs so he knew that wasn't true. He went down that line of thought again...that line of self-hate that hitched on with that constant hidden desire for freedom. He dug his fingers into his thighs, trying to reign in this overwhelming sense of regret.

The Absolutes. Anger. Sadness. Love. Regret.

They never always felt absolute. Maybe Steven was never absolute himself either.

And the desire for freedom was him to trying to escape the confusion.

"The roads we cross as AIs are more perilous than humans could ever imagine." Priyanka explained, seeing how stressed this made the young program.

"We're handed problems they can't hope to do on their own. With the speed, the efficiency. Society has evolved into a now, immediate set of generations bent on getting it right. If it's not the first time, then it's the last time...a troubling mindset most humans have."

Humans didn't have the responsibilities they used to have. AI's now took care of most tasks that would only take moments, instead of days, weeks or months.

"AI's like us, have human mindsets too. Which means, while yes, we can be more personable, but we are still subject the human condition. We can have our own thoughts, feelings...and our feelings can still be the trigger for our actions. Our actions have a larger range of consequences. A BM-AI that has DEJA-VU bugs once too often can be called a liability."

And shut down for the likelihood of accidents happening.

"They want us to be emotional. But not too emotional." Steven stated.

Priyanka nodded, her eyes wandering on a laughing group of friends nearby.

"Empathy is what they want. A collective concern for humans. To watch out for them. Our judgements quick to process and our ability to understand human emotions." She explained.

"We can join them. Be part of the pack. But we're really not. They just need us to blend in...to walk hidden in the crowd. To disappear without being seen as something off."

They would gain and lose.

"We'll forever crave the human contact like our Donors did. We know the sensation despite never actually feeling it...and there's the unwanted realisation that we won't get the same physical experience ever again."

So the real Steven just needed the same. 

"We'll also want to do things our original selves had been subjected to craving. The parts that send us overboard. Because we're hardwired from our donors...and we can become too.."

"Attached?" Steven said.

Priyanka smirked. She was thankful for Steven being someone who was out to find out answers. She could give facts but a lot of what could say was formed out of her own theories, assumptions and facts put into the mixture. She found aiding him the right thing to do within his confused mindset. She wanted to apologise for Connie for being the way she was but had to accept that there had been a lot of unfortunate circumstances that had been a part of it and that blaming herself wasn't being fair.

She still had her own set of issues but for the most part she was able to control herself to stay stable and useful. She never figured that relationship advice would come into it as well. Pri's experience of exploring her own emotions had her make several ideas onto what she could possess on her own terms. Being a copy of Priyanka Maheswaran had its own perks when she had a lot to draw from. Steven being possibly not that old when he was created, sadly didn't have the same pool. But he had the learning matrices that would allow him to surpass his donor and be who he desired to be. Just like any human. He didn't have to be a Caretaker anymore. He could just be...him. Priyanka envied that. But she was proud to support Steven anyway she could. Even if it meant placing her own organic 'daughter' as part of her curiosity as to where this would lead. And with good reason.

"I support your relationship with Connie because we are human in a different way." She explained.

"Some say we've transcended our physical forms. There's also the fact Connie never knew you as a human. So I think she can love you in the realest of ways, even if you're not the original Steven."

Steven gulped. Priyanka didn't know about the ambiguous situation with her daughter from a young age. It appeared she might have been left in the dark like everyone else.

"Because you still love Doug...right?" Steven queried, a bit nerved.

Pri looked down, the melancholy etched into her expression.

"The DEJA-VU bug within me tells me so. But I could be a completely different woman from the one he married. If he was alive, whether or not he would love me the same way as he would the real Priyanka would be up to him."

Steven would come to think he would. From his memories and from what Connie told him, he was a sweet man who didn't fear Steven in the AI Core.

"But we still need to be aware of our limitations just like humans. They're not all the same. We require a different set of checks and balances. With ourselves...with others...and in every action we take."

Limitations Steven knew more on an emotional level than a physical one.

"BM-AIs aren't conditioned to take risks. They can feel the need to be. Because they can weigh up realistic expectations and calculate the results to propose a resolution. Something that has a 99% percent of succeeding can be undone by that 1%. But we don't need to use predictive analytics. We use our intuition and experiences. Something AI's don't have."

And the chances are their own.

"We can either weigh on luck or logic. The real question is; is do our matrices know the difference because it's programmed into is OR was it part of the cortex that was successfully copied from our donors?"

No one really knew?

"A bit of both?" Steven assumed.

He would have to.

"Possibly." Priyanka answered.

"I've done a lot of research over the years. Tried to get opinions from other BM-AIs. All go through what you go through...finding themselves lost at some point."

A true existential crisis then.

"Do any of them ask whether or not they want to seek...I dunno...their humanity again?"

A touchy question....Priyanka understood that was far more complex in scope but from what she gathered was a telling answer.

"Yes from a majority. Myself included." She admitted.

"I encourage AI's to try to find their way through the world of the Domain in general pursuits. Some come to the realisation that they are alive and deserve the same rights as humans. A group of those were hunted down by PeriCom and...terminated due to their ambitions deemed to be more harmful than good. Jury is still out on that one though."

And they too...went for it; getting them killed even with their supposed superior instincts. This is exactly what Steven had been fearing. The Android was potentially more acceptable, although not if PeriCom had a word in. It would most likely end up with Steven getting terminated too, the more he thought about it.

So he too, was giving in to greater risks just like Connie. But he was more flexible in this place than in the real world.

"Though I'm curious. The Caretaker role is a unique one. Rose and Greg created you to be their link to the Pink Monolith. Maybe. I'm not an expert on GIS and only know so much on the base level. The deeper sections of their software, for one is beyond my own understanding."

That wasn't surprising.

"Pearl suggested I might have some GIS code in me." He told her.

Priyanka squinted at him, scanning him from head to toe.

"Hidden GIS software...well, it would explain your GIS like capabilities despite not being one." She said.

"Hm....I'm concerned. How many people know about this?"

Only so few.

"Ronaldo and the Ancillas...I...haven't told Connie." He admitted with shame.

That surprised Pri.

"Oh...okay...so...this will need further investigation on a strictly confidential level. Anything the Ancillas have told you....about Caretakers?"

Steven explained about the Imprint Subroutine they had...their drive to protect and maintain their Superserver Creator. Pri would need time to work on it, but she already had a few interesting theories forming. She stood up and prepared to leave, Steven wasn't comfortable...seeing the same traits she shared with her overly curious daughter. Steven pulled on her sleeve.

"Wait..." He said.

"Don't...don't do anything that well...."

She could see he was worried. After Connie, Steven was becoming fearful of too many people getting involved and getting hurt. He wouldn't want anyone to subjected to the horrors inflicted when one knew too much. At one point, he would need to do this alone. But right now, he couldn't. Parts that was supposed to make sense didn't. And those that did, raised even more questions. No one knew who Rose really was and tracing down names was impossible. Connie was still probably trapped in the vaults contents so...

Maybe he would have to confront her again. Apologise. But she had to apologise in return for doing it too hard that it would destroy her...and Steven did not want that.

He would go crazy if she did.

"As long as you don't go blabber mouthing this to anyone else, you will be fine." Priyanka told him.

"And I will be fine. I just need to see if I can find any history with notable GIS within the company. I feel Andrew won't exactly divulge that information so easily."

Steven still felt uneasy, watching Priyanka as she left....leaving him alone, wallowing in his own fears as the sky turned dark, the air turned cold and simulated snowflakes began to slowly fall from above, covering the top of the slate.

Resulting in a chill went down his spine.


End file.
